Family Affairs
by lighthawkdemon1
Summary: Haruka Urashima is a very complex woman, never letting her true feelings known to anyone around her, yet she is a swarm of emotions on the inside. After years of waiting the man she loves finally returns to her, but is he ready to receive her love?
1. Prologue: Love Lost, and Found

**Love Hina   
**

_Disclaimer: This episode of Love Hina is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Love Hina. 'Love Hina' and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1999-2004 Ken Akamatsu/Mixx Entertainment Inc. Love Hina is a trademark of TOKYOPOP®. All rights reserved.   
_

**Family Affairs   
****Prologue:   
****Love Lost...and Found   
**

Haruka Urashima lounges back on her favorite chair, a cigarette hanging from her lips. A light sigh escapes her as she gazes out at the dark, silent town around her. Her view from the top of her Café Hina is actually a lot better than one would think, especially at night when it gets dark and the lights of all the stores and homes around the small building shine in all their brilliance. Despite the beautiful view and the calmness of the warm early fall night, Haruka feels unusually cold and empty, her mind wracked with fear and doubt. Though she is still very beautiful, owns and runs her own small business successfully and is only around 27, making her quite the eligible bachelorette, there has only been one man for her, one man who she has always loved with every fiber of her being, and therein lies the problem and the source of her inner turmoil.

The café owner was never much of a social person when she was a young girl and because of that and her stoic nature, she had very few friends while growing up. She was never bothered by this though for in her mind for as long as she could remember, she knew that one day, one magical day, something special will come her way, something that will change her life forever and make her into a better person because of it. For Haruka, that something special came to her in the most unexpected of places...or to be more precise, the most unexpected of people.

She was only 7 when she met him for the very first time, but when she first laid eyes on him, she knew everything would change. He was only a baby, no more than a few hours old, but something about him stirred something deep down inside of her, something she has never felt before. Her mother brought her in to see the baby and his proud parents at the hospital after she heard the good news. The young Haruka leaned over the bed and took her first look at the little baby boy, just as he opened his eyes. She gasped lightly at him, his small chocolate brown eyes already so soft and inviting, showing off a deep warmth and love that will only increase as he grows older. As the two gazed at each other, Haruka made a silent vow to herself to watch over the little boy and love him always.

* * *

As the years passed, her feelings for him began to grow, yet she was oblivious as to how much so. Even though they lived a good distance from each other, Haruka always kept in contact with him, calling to see how things were going with him or occasionally sending letters. It would always upset her when he would call her by a formality, and she would usually scold him for doing so and let him know that she wasn't that much older than him, so just calling her by her first name would suffice.

Haruka began to realize how deeply her feelings for him went when a young girl about his age began to innocently dote on him whenever she was around him. As she witnessed this occurrence, she became exceedingly jealous, shoving the girl aside and causing her to fall down and scrape her knee. Before anyone could say anything, Haruka ran away up to her room, horrified at what she just did. "Why...why did I just do that?" she muttered out loud. "When I saw her hugging and touching him...I got so angry...why?" She looked in the mirror, gazing at her reflection. I care more about him than I thought I did?" She shakes her head vigorously. "No...that...that couldn't be."

Even to herself, Haruka sounded unsure.

In the next few years, she came to realize that she had fallen in love with the young man, though she was far too afraid to admit her true feelings for him, residing to just watch by as he grew, interfering as much as she could when a young woman showed interest in him. It became increasingly difficult as she started high school and someone who was even closer than she was to him fell in love with him. Her jealousy grew to even greater heights, but she knew that nothing would really come because of the young girl's unfounded love. It could never be returned.

**_

* * *

_**

When Haruka was leaving her teens, the young man was entering his, as well as an important experience at that age, puberty. Unfortunately for the now adult Urashima, she spent her next few years overseas with a close friend, Jessica MacDougal, her young daughter Sarah and a somewhat romantic interest she had at the time, Seta Noriyasu. Being on this trip meaning she missed most of the years when the young man matured and slowly became the man he is today, something she still regrets to this day.

While overseas on the excavating journey, she began to become more interested in Seta, who reminded her a lot of her one and true love back in Japan, but alas, it was not meant to be. Seta had been interested in both Haruka and Jessica, but he could never truly decide which one he wanted to be with more. He made a promise to the two of them that by the time he reached 30, he would decide which one he wanted to marry, but then tragedy struck.

While digging up what appeared to be the possible ruins for an old turtle civilization, Jessica suddenly passed out, looking to be suffering from a case of heatstroke. While in the hospital, the doctors gave everyone terrible news. Jessica had somehow contracted a rare deadly virus that severely weakened her immune system...she didn't have long to live. Before she passed away, Seta swore to her that he'd watch over little Sarah and care for her as if she were his own child, as well as another promise, one that Seta didn't reveal to Haruka. This hurt the Urashima woman greatly since she felt like by not sharing something that must be very important, it most likely meant that they didn't trust her. Shortly after Jessica passed on and Seta adopted Sarah, both he and Haruka had a falling out of sorts, only more complicated than it had seemed. Since Jessica was now gone, Haruka, in a way, won over Seta's affections by default, the man now spending more time with her and bringing up the now dreaded 'm' word.

Not willing to submit to something she felt she didn't rightfully win, the Urashima left, taking the first flight back to Japan where she opened up a quaint little tea café, rarely seeing of the other man much anymore, and not really caring either.

**_

* * *

_**

Though she was saddened by her good friend's death and her falling out with Seta, Haruka was happy to be back in Japan, and closer to the man who had unknowingly captured her heart. She had been quite startled to see how the last couple of years had changed him, and she felt her love for him grow to even greater heights. He had just recently started his senior year in high school and was preparing to take some practice tests and preparatory tests for the college he wanted to go to. Haruka hoped that he would do well, though she feared him doing too well and getting into a very nice college overseas, meaning she'd barely ever get to see him again.

It was already tough enough that her business was starting to really prosper and her mother, who owned an old inn, which just recently was turned into an all-girl's dormitory, was talking about taking an around the world trip soon and leaving Haruka to tend for the old building and take over as house mother. This meant that she was quite busy and had very little time to herself...and even less time to spend around her beloved. Though she was terribly saddened by this on the inside, you could never tell on the outside, having her stoic poker face on at all the times, not daring to let anyone, well almost everyone, in to see her for who she really is.

**_

* * *

_**

Haruka lets out one last puff of smoke, putting her cigarette out on the roof. She stands up from her lawn chair and stretches her tired muscles, today having been a rigorous one in her café. With one last look at the city around her, she goes back downstairs and retires for the night.

Several hours later, the Urashima woman is sitting on a stool in her café reading the morning newspaper, the morning rush finally calming down so she has a little quiet time for a bit. Her eyes scan down the current page she is on, which has the daily horoscopes.

**Gemini**: The fates smile upon you today. A chance meeting will put things into perspective for you...if you act on them. Do not be afraid to let someone in, you will be eternally glad you did.

Haruka's eyebrow rises slightly after reading this, the cigarette in her mouth twitching ever so slightly. She shakes her head and tosses the newspaper onto an empty table. "I don't know why I keep on reading that crap," she mutters under her breath. "It never comes true." She pulls out a rag and turns around, beginning to rub one of the countertops, going about her daily work once more.

The front entrance suddenly opens as a young man enters, a barely contained smile on his face. Haruka would have though of the person walking in as another customer, had it not been for the scent to suddenly reach her nose. The woman's entire body freezes up in remembrance. 'It...it's him,' she thinks, her breathing becoming shallow, 'it's got to be. I know his scent.' Slowly, hesitantly, she turns back around, hoping that her rapidly beating heart can't be heard by anyone else. Her breath catches in her throat as she lays eyes on him, her beloved looking even more handsome than she remembered. "H-Hello," she stammers out.

The young man walks up to her, the smile now fully out. He readjusts his glasses a bit before responding, "Hi Aunt Haruka."

**To be continued...**

**_

* * *

_**

**Author's notes**: Well here is my newest Love Hina fic. Didn't expect that ending did you? Did you? Heh, well I know this chapter is short, but it's a prologue, usually they are a bit short. As usual, I've been busy, I'm surprised that I actually finished this chapter and the Ranma ½ one I posted a bit before this one. It's my first journey into that realm so please be kind!

Oh yeah, and please be kind for the pairing in this fic as well. I think I'm allergic to criticism...just like Negi, the main character in Ken Akamatsu's newest mange series Negima! Magister Negi Magi. It's pretty cool, I definitely recommend getting the first volume. - _lighthawkdemon_

Questions or comments? E-mail me at: **lighthawkdemon** at Y!


	2. Chapter 1: Meeting the Troup

**Love Hina**

_Disclaimer: This episode of Love Hina is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Love Hina. "Love Hina" and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1999-2004 Ken Akamatsu/Mixx Entertainment Inc. Love Hina is a trademark of TOKYOPOP®. All rights reserved._

**Family Affairs   
Chapter 1:   
Meeting the Troup**

Haruka opens and closes her mouth several times, too stunned to get any words out while her slightly younger nephew beams happily at her. "It's been a while Aunt Haruka," Keitaro begins, leaning in and wrapping his arms around his dear aunt. "I missed you."

The Urashima woman slowly, hesitantly places her hands onto Keitaro, thinking that this could just be a dream, one she doesn't want to wake from so soon. As soon as she touches him, she leans into the embrace ands returns it in full, relishing the feeling of holding him in such a state. The younger of the two lets go first and backs up, the large smile still on his face. Haruka quickly tries to regain her composure, but a small smile manages to make its way through her stoic mask. "So what brings you all the way over here Keitaro?" she asks, placing a hand on her hip. Her smile fades as she notices the sudden air of nervousness and uncertainty that has just surrounded the young man. She reaches out and gently places a hand on his shoulder. "Hey…what's wrong?"

"Mom and Dad…they kicked me out."

Haruka stumbles back slightly in surprise, her hand falling off of her nephew. "They…they kicked you out!?" she stammers out. Keitaro nods once, bowing his head in shame. "Why?"

Keitaro sighs deeply before responding, "Because I failed to get into Tokyo University again. I guess they couldn't take me being a failure anymore…and I don't blame them. I can't do anything right anymo…" he trails off as his Aunt pulls him close into a warm, and loving embrace.

"Hey, don't say that," she softly whispers to him, feeling her heart ace at hearing her beloved degrade himself like that. To any outsider, the two Urashima's look more like two people who are in love, but to the regulars in the café who know Haruka well, they understand that this is a touching moment between an Aunt and her nephew. After a few moments, Haruka reluctantly releases Keitaro and leans against the counter by the register. "So what are your plans now that you don't have a place to live?"

"Well that's what brings me here to the Hina district." Keitaro replies while sitting onto a stool next to his aunt. "I'm planning on going to Grandma Hina's old hotel and see if she can let me stay in one of the rooms…hopefully at a discount since I don't have a lot of money on me," he adds with a chuckle.

'Oh I don't want to have to break it to him,' she worriedly thinks, not wanting to hand any more bad news over to the young man. 'I know there's no way those girls will allow him to stay, especially Motoko,' she adds with an inwards cringe, 'but if he can't stay at the dorm and he doesn't have a lot of money, where can I keep…him…' Her eyes light up as a thought, a _very_ good thought comes to her. 'This is the opportunity I've been waiting for,' she thinks in excitement. The slightly older woman adopts a solemn expression before speaking up. "I'm sorry to break it to you Keitaro, but Grandma hasn't been to the Hinata House for over a year now. I've been taking care of it as the house mother…and it's not a hotel anymore, it's an all girls dormitory."

Keitaro feels his hope sink down the drain at this news. "An all girls dorm?" His aunt nods once and the young man's shoulders slump in resignation. "Great, now where can I stay while I study to get into Tokyo U?"

"You can stay here if you want," Haruka quickly replies, a little too quickly than she intended. Cursing herself for a moment, she continues, "I've got an extra room upstairs that I don't use, and you can work down here for your stay when you're not studying. I could use the help."

The older Urashima feels her heart melt at the smile Keitaro is giving her. "Do you mean it?!"

"Of course," she calmly answers, though she is dissolving into a puddle of goo on the inside. 'Its times like these that remind me why I am in love with him so much,' she thinks with a light sigh. She looks to her right as the last two customers in her café leave. "Well since there aren't any customers in here anymore, why don't I close up for a bit so I can take you up to the Hinata House and introduce you to the girls that live up there. One of them is also studying to go to Tokyo University, so maybe she can help you a bit with your studying."

Keitaro turns around and clasps his hands together as he feels tears well up in his eyes. "You're being so nice to me Aunt Haruka. I don't know what I ever can do to repay you." He grabs his bag and hops off the stool, walking out of the Café Hina.

The older woman watches the young man walk away, her eyes soaking in the view. "I can think of a few things," she mumbles out loud.

Keitaro turns around, a curious look on his face. "What was that Aunt Haruka?"

Haruka frowns in annoyance as she walks up to her nephew, pulls out a fan, and whaps him on the head. "For starters, stop calling me 'Aunt' okay?" She puts a cigarette back in her mouth and raises an eyebrow slightly.

"Okay, Okay," he chuckles. "I'll stop calling you that, but," he reaches over and takes the cigarette from her lips, "could you stop smoking? These things can kill you, and I'd be crushed if something bad ever happened to you." With another of his award winning smiles, the Tokyo U aspirant exits the café, leaving a flustered Haruka behind.

She places a hand over her heart, cursing how Keitaro always manages to get under her outer defenses without even trying. 'Damn it Haruka!' she chastises herself, 'get a grip! Why can't I keep control around him like I used to?!" She shakes her head and walks out of her café, locking the door behind her. "Damn you Keitaro," she mutters under her breath, "if I didn't love you so much, I'd kick your ass for making me feel this way."

**_

* * *

_**

The two Urashima's finally make it to the top of the large stone stairs, revealing the Hinata House before them. "Wow," the young man begins in an awed voice, "I forgot how big this place is."

"Yeah," Haruka agrees. "I've lived here pretty much my entire life, and I still haven't figured this whole place out yet."

Keitaro leans over and nudges his aunt on the shoulder playfully. "So what do you say we go on a scavenger hunt and uncover all of this place's secrets? It could be fun. I remember Mom telling me that you used to do that kind of stuff when you were in college."

The dorm's house mother shoves the young man away, shaking her head and pretending not to care, while she relishes in the thought on the inside. 'I can imagine it,' she thinks, 'just Keitaro and me exploring around, discovering new things, having tons of fun and…' she trails off for a moment as not so innocent thoughts emerge, 'getting dirty and having to take a shower…together.' A pleasant shiver runs down her spine. 'To feel all the love I have for him finally returned, to feel his hands touching my body, caressing my…whoa!' Haruka raps her head a couple of times, knocking the thoughts away. 'I can't be thinking about that…especially when he's around!' She looks over to see her nephew giving her an odd look.

"Au…I mean Haruka, are you okay?" he quickly corrects himself.

"I'm fine," she sighs, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "It's just…well its nothing. Don't worry about it."

Keitaro shrugs slightly, turning back towards the old dorm. "Okay." The two walk inside the Hinata House, both taking off their shoes at the entrance and making their way into the main living room. The young man sits down on one of the old couches, noticing how loudly it creaks and groans under his weight. Haruka looks up at the closed doors above, sticks her thumb and index finger in her mouth, takes a deep breath and whistles extremely loud, getting her beloved nephew to jump out of his seat in surprise.

He is quick to his feet, covering his ringing ears. "Did you have to whistle so loud?" he asks, giving the slightly older woman a patronizing look.

"It's the only way to get all of their attentions," she replies with a small smile. "They're a…colorful bunch so stay on your toes, okay?"

Keitaro is about to respond when suddenly two young girls, probably close to their early teens, come rushing in from the hallway to the left, one of them literally bouncing in. They stop right in front of Haruka and are about to say something when they notice Keitaro sitting down on one of the couches. The younger looking of the two, who has short dark purple hair, hides behind Haruka, shyly peeking around her. The other one, who appears to be foreign, judging by her tanned skin, blonde hair and small dot in the middle of her forehead, clasps her hands together on the back of her head and slowly walks up to Keitaro, her bright green eyes sizing him up as a possibly playmate.

"Play nice Su," the older Urashima calmly says, reaching into her apron and pulling out a cigarette. She is about to put it in her mouth when she notices Keitaro frowning at her. With a heavyhearted sigh, she puts the cigarette back into her apron, getting her beloved to give her a glorious smile. Haruka's eyes widen as she feels her cheeks begin to redden. She quickly turns around, covering her face with her hands. 'I'm _blushing_?!' she thinks in revulsion. 'I'm turning into a god damned school girl now!' Summoning all her will power, she manages to get the unwanted color off of her cheeks, just as two other tenants make their appearance.

Hearing footsteps coming their way, Keitaro looks over to the right, only to cover his eyes and blush furiously in surprise as two beautiful young women wearing only towels come walking in, both looking a bit annoyed. "This had better be good Haruka," one of them begins, who has short light brown hair and is squinting, giving her a fox eyed appearance, "cause Naru and I were enjoying a very nice soak before you so rudely interr…" she trails off as she notices the young man sitting down not too far from her and her friend. "Well hello there," she greets, eying him up and down. 'Not bad,' she thinks, 'lose the dorky glasses and we'll talk,' she adds with a sly smile.

The other young woman, this one with long reddish brown hair, Naru, if Keitaro recalls correctly, pulls her towel more tightly around herself upon viewing the young man in the living room. "Haruka," she begins in a cautious tone, "what's a _man_ doing in here?"

"I'll explain everything once Motoko gets here," the older woman answers. She looks back upstairs, her face adopting an annoyed expression. "Where is that damn girl?"

"I am here," a soft voice responds from the top of the first floor stairs and Keitaro turns to see one of the most stunning sights he has ever seen. A woman, an amazingly beautiful young woman begins to slowly and quite gracefully makes her way down the stairs, her feet not even making a single sound on the steps as she descends. She is wearing traditional training white gi and red hakama and has a long sword firmly held in her left hand. Her long ebony hair cascades behind her while her angelic face has an expression of pure calmness and tranquility. As she reaches the bottom of the stairs, her sharp senses alert her to an unknown presence in the room. She immediately finds the source, a young man sitting in their living room. "A _male_?" she begins, her eyes narrowing dangerously while she raises her sword up, "in an all girls dorm? Haruka, please explain this at once."

The Urashima woman walks to the middle of the room, both of her hands on her hips. "Since all of you are here now, I'd like to introduce you to someone." She walks over to Keitaro and places a hand on his shoulder. "This is Keitaro, my nephew."

The young man waves politely to everyone around him. "Hello, nice to meet you all," he kindly greets.

All the girls either wave back, nod or grumble in response. Motoko takes a step forward, her eyes darting over to Keitaro for a brief moment before speaking up. "He may be related to you Haruka, but you know that men are forbidden to enter this dormitory. I do not wish to sound rude, but I think it would be wise for your nephew to leave immediately before I force him to."

The café owner gives Motoko a stern look, getting the young swordswoman to falter in her place. "First off," she begins, "you don't own or control the Hinata House, Granny Hina does, and she has left me in charge while she's away, meaning that what I say goes. If I want to bring my nephew up here so he can meet you girls and be the friendly person he is, then he can come up here. If you don't like it, then there's the door," she adds, pointing to the front door, "it's been nice knowing you."

All the girls stare in shock at the Urashima woman's reaction, since they know she rarely ever shows such emotions. Keitaro reaches up and gently places a hand on his dear Aunt's. "Hey, you don't have to be so harsh on them, they didn't do anything wrong."

Haruka feels her strong resolve crumble at the young man's pleading look. "Oh all right," she grumbles. "Well Keitaro's here because his parents just kicked him out and he needs a place to stay." Several of the young women visibly tense and are about to ask something but Haruka, knowing what the question is, quickly adds, "And in case you are wondering, no, he isn't staying here with you, he'll be staying down in the café with me." Her eye twitches slightly as a few of the girls sigh in relief, two in particular quite loudly and rudely. Her anger grows as she notices the hurt look on her beloved's face. 'He gets rejected by a bunch of girls he doesn't even know. Damn it! Why do bad things always happen to him? He's the nicest and gentlest man I've ever known. He deserves so much more than what he's got.' She leans down towards Keitaro and whispers, "Can you go outside for a few minutes? I've got some…personal things to discuss with the girls. We'll go on back to my café once I'm done"

"Sure," he responds with another heart melting smile. He stands up and nods once politely to all the young women around him before he walks over to the door, puts his shoes on, and walks outside.

As soon as the front door closes, Haruka turns back towards the group and they all flinch at the extremely angry glare she is giving them all. "Su, Shinobu, go on upstairs please." The two young girls wordlessly agree and quickly run up the stairs, sensing that the living room definitely isn't the place to be right now. Once they are out of sight, the Urashima woman faces the three remaining young women, crossing her arms with an angry scowl. "Now listen you three, I don't want any of you giving Keitaro a hard time just because he's a guy and he might be up here from time to time."

"But he is a male!" Motoko practically whines, "I do not care that he is your nephew and you have control of the entire Hinata House, he is a male and all males are driven by their perverted desires. He has no place anywhere near here." Naru nods furiously in agreement.

Kitsune, on the other hand, shakes her head in dismay and walks to the stairs. She turns back towards her two friends, the frown quite evident on her face. "You two don't know how to have any fun. Its no wonder I can't get any good dates up here anymore," she adds before turning around and going upstairs to her room to put some clothes on.

Haruka's aura flares to life in anger, getting Motoko to back off in shock. Normally she has a very strong, but amazingly calm and stoic aura, but nobody insults her Keitaro and expects to get away with it. "Tell me something you two," she begins, her fists clenching and unclenching subconsciously, "are your fathers perverts?" When they don't respond, she continues with, "Your grandfathers? Uncles? Male cousins or any male relatives?" She turns her head towards the young swordswoman. "And you Motoko, are any of the masters or other men in your school perverts…or driven by their 'perverted desires' as how you so delicately put it?"

"Well…um…" she hesitantly answers, "you see when I said all males, I was not referring to any of them, just…" she is stopped by Haruka holding up a hand to silence her."

"Yes you were," the older woman practically snarls. "You know, I'm getting tired of the two of you and your high and mighty attitudes. Both of you judge almost every guy before you even meet them. Now I know you each claim to have your own reasons, but personally I think both are a load of bull." She turns to the older of the two girls. "Naru, I know about your little crush on Seta, and I know how upset you where when he left suddenly two years ago, and you base your ideals on men because of that. But you have to know that Seta, for starters, was never interested in you that way, and I know that he never will be because I still keep in contact with the big dummy. And about him leaving like he did, he's been doing stupid things like that for as long as I've known him, so suck it up and get over him."

Naru's only response is to look aside with her head down, her lower lip trembling slightly as she remembers the man she has such a strong crush on…and how heartbroken he had left her when he suddenly departed without so much as a goodbye. Motoko notices her friend's downtrodden state and stands up off of the couch. "Haruka, that was most uncalled for!"

"No it wasn't, and sit back down, I'm not finished," she icily responds, reaching down into her apron and grabbing a cigarette and her lighter. She is just about to light up when Keitaro's smiling face appears in her mind, halting her hand. "Damn it," she mumbles before putting the cigarette and lighter back into her apron. "Motoko, Granny Hina told me that you came here because of some stuff with your sister getting married, making you the successor to your sword school. I don't get why you hate all men because of that. I thought you'd enjoy the idea of becoming the successor to your sword style, I know how much you love it."

"She…she was not supposed to get married," the young swordswoman meekly replies. "She was supposed to take over the school…not me."

Haruka walks over to the young woman and places a hand on her shoulder. "Why wasn't she?" the older woman softly asks. "What's wrong with you taking over?"

Instead of answering, Motoko stands up and rushes towards the stairs. She stops at the foot of it and, without turning around, says, "A male has no business in the Hinata House," before rushing upstairs to her room.

The Urashima woman sighs while looking back down at Naru. "I'm sorry about being so mean, but this had to be said."

"I…I guess its okay Haruka," the long haired girl replies, her small smile not reaching her eyes.

Haruka turns to leave, but stops after a few steps and turns back around, an unreadable expression on her face. "Oh, by the way, Keitaro's also studying to get into Tokyo U, and I'm going to send him up here once in a while to study with you." The way she says it leaves absolutely no room for any complaints. She then walks on out, smiling as she hears the woman behind her groan loudly. As she closes the large front door, she notices her beloved sitting down at the top step ahead, gazing out at the town below. Smiling softly, Haruka walks up behind him and ruffles his hair affectionately.

The young man looks up in surprise, and then smiles at who he is looking at. "So you ready to go back down?"

"Yeah, let's go." The two Urashimas begin the walk down the long stone steps. They are about halfway down when Haruka suddenly speaks up, "I'm sorry about some of those girls, they're not…male friendly," she sighs slightly as Keitaro chuckles at her comment. "I'll try to bring you up again tomorrow when they've cooled down a bit. Maybe we can actually get through the introductions this time," she adds while shoving her nephew playfully.

**_

* * *

_**

A few hours later, the sun has set and Haruka relaxes on her rooftop, wearing a small silk bathrobe and smoking a cigarette, her hair still slightly damp from the bath she took not too long ago. As she takes a long smooth drag, her mind wanders back to earlier. Keitaro and her talked for almost the entire time they were back at her place, catching up a lot on what has been going on since they last saw one another. The grown woman allows herself a nice smile as she remembers the subtle physical contact both her beloved and herself had. For Keitaro, the big loveable dummy, he didn't notice the deeper meanings behind them, but for Haruka, every touch and brush of skin against skin had sent a shiver of excitement and wanting throughout her entire body. Now that he will be around a lot more, the older Urashima feels that she can finally let her feelings for him be known, and pray that he will not reject her because of their family status to each other.

Haruka's thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the sounds of someone walking up the stairs to the roof. Acting quickly, she puts out her cigarette and tosses it off of the roof and, for added affect, she pulls open the top of her robe slightly and hikes up the bottom a bit, showing off more of her long, smooth legs. Keitaro walks up and takes the spare seat next to her, wearing a large men's robe. The young man looks up at the starry night sky and then down to the vast sea of lights all over town and mutters, "Wow, what a view." He looks over to his Aunt, and it is now that he notices how revealing her robe is, and how much skin is out in the open. He quickly looks away, albeit with very flushed cheeks. 'Why am I blushing, she's my Aunt!' he thinks to himself.

Unfortunately for him, Haruka noticed him looking at her, and she caught the appreciative look in his eyes. Smiling to herself, she causally replies, "Yeah, that's why I usually come up here every night before I go to bed," while stretching her arms over her head, putting her body on full display for her beloved.

'Don't look,' Keitaro's mind coaches him. 'Just keep your eyes straight ahead and don't look at her. You can do it.' Despite how strongly his mind is protesting against it, his eyes slowly make their way over to the beautiful woman beside him. He takes a quick look up and down before turning back, mentally punching himself. 'Damn it! I looked.'

Once again, the ever aware Haruka catches him looking at her. It takes all of her willpower not to smile from ear to ear at how visibly tense the young man is becoming, liking how she's affecting him greatly. 'I think I should back off before I give the poor guy a heart attack.' With a small inward sigh, she stands up and turns to Keitaro, placing her hands on her hips lazily. "Well I'm going down for the night, I'll wake you up in the morning so we can both get the café ready and everything. I'll probably have you working in the back, making the food and drinks."

"Okay," he replies with a smile. "I'll make sure to do my best tomorrow."

The older Urashima leans down and gives her beloved a small kiss on the forehead, purposely also giving him a good view down her robe and the forbidden pleasure within. She smirks at how flushed his face becomes and the small amount of blood that is dribbling from his nose. "Goodnight." She then turns back around and walks to the stairs, seductively swishing her hips back and forth.

Keitaro, despite how much his mind is protesting, watches his aunt as she walks away, feeling quite ashamed of himself at the thoughts that were running through his mind about her, none of them exactly appropriate. 'Damn it this is wrong!' he mentally chides himself while rapping his head a few times. 'She's my aunt…my dad's sister for crying out loud!' He shakes his head with a sigh. "Things sure are going to be interesting around here now."

A little bit behind the young man, just out of sight on the stairs, Haruka looks up to the sky, a genuine smile on her face. "I can guarantee you that Keitaro," she mumbles under her breath. Her eyes widen slightly as a shooting star streaks across the infinite darkness. She closes her eyes and places a hand over heart and thinks, 'I wish that someday soon Keitaro will open his eyes and love me as much as I love him.'

**To be continued…**

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**Author's notes**: Well this is the first chapter of 'Family Affairs' and I happen to think that the story is progressing nicely, even though I haven't updated my stories on a looooong time. I apologize as usual for my delay, I've been making so many stories that I sorta burned myself out for a while. I could barely come up with any good ideas for any of my stories for the longest time. I've been sitting down and really brainstorming and I'm finally getting some good stuff. I just hope I can get then done sooner for all of you to enjoy them.

On Love Hina news, I was quite surprised at how many reviews I got for the prologue to this story that wanted me to continue. I was originally only going to make this story a one-shot, then just a few chapters and now I'll keep it going as long as I keep getting good ideas to continue and all you loyal fans back me up.

Now Keitaro has had a partial introduction to the girls, but he'll get the full one next chapter, and plenty of fun will arise from it! I promise.

Questions or comments? E-mail me at: **lighthawkdemon** at Y!


	3. Chapter 2: Forbidden Pleasures

**Love Hina**

_Disclaimer: This episode of Love Hina is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Love Hina. "Love Hina" and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1999-2004 Ken Akamatsu/Mixx Entertainment Inc. Love Hina is a trademark of TOKYOPOP®. All rights reserved._

**Family Affairs   
Chapter 2:   
Forbidden Pleasures**

Haruka awakens as the alarm on the headrest above her silently rings. She reaches up and turns it off, yawning loudly. The Urashima woman sits up, the soft silk sheets sliding down her nude upper body. She slides off the soft mattress and stands up to stretch out her muscles. Unlike most traditional Japanese people, Haruka sleeps on a regular western style bed that sits a bit off of the ground with a couple of mattresses, silk sheets with soft, fluffy pillows and a large wooden headrest where she keeps several books that she likes to read before going to bed.

She came to enjoy western beds after sleeping in them in nice hotels many times during her countless journeys with Seta and Jessica. The two women would, of course, sleep in the hotels and indulge themselves on the room service that Seta would pay for while the unfortunate man would be forced to sleep outside either in a tent or in his van when it wasn't being repaired or being found somewhere underwater. Haruka became accustomed to how comfortably she was able to sleep in the western beds and decided to get one for herself.

After she is done stretching, Haruka walks into her bathroom to take care of some business, which of course means primping herself up to look good for Keitaro. Soon she is wearing her favorite silk robe, the same one she had on last night when she teased her beloved with a large show of smooth, beautiful skin. With a light smile, Haruka walks over to Keitaro's room and slides the door open, softly walking in as to not make a sound and wake him up before she is ready. She kneels down beside the sleeping young man, gently caressing his face. A sudden thought occurs to her and she lifts up the covers by his waist, her eyebrows rising at the sight of his morning visitor. Haruka's smile turns feral for a brief moment, but she quickly shakes it off, returning her face to its normal, stoic nature.

"Keitaro," she begins, nudging his shoulder a bit, "come on Keitaro, wake up." As the young man starts to shuffle around on his futon, Haruka leans down and gives him a kiss on the forehead.

Just at that moment, Keitaro opens his eyes. As his vision clears, he takes in a sharp intake of breath as he gazes down at the very lovely body leaning over him. He also notices the pair of soft lips kissing his forehead. Thinking he is dreaming, since he could never be so lucky to have a beautiful woman kissing him…ever, he reaches out with his left hand and places it on the woman's waist while the other reaches up and rests on the side her neck, gently rubbing it and encouraging her to continue.

The Urashima woman feels her heart start to race in her chest at her beloved's soft, yet intimate touch. 'Does…does this mean what I think it does?' she hopefully thinks. 'Does he truly feel for me as I do for him?'

Still thinking it is a wonderful dream, Keitaro closes his eyes and slides his hand to the back of the woman's neck and pulls her down a bit, catching her lips with his. "Mmm…" he moans out loud. 'Man this is a great dream!' the young man thinks with an inwards smile.

'Oh yes!' Haruka's mind sighs in rapture. 'I've waited so long for this day to finally come. I must make the most of it.' She quickly adjusts her position so she is now straddling Keitaro, her hands on each side of his face while she returns the kiss with every amount of passion she can muster. 'He is a really good kisser…I knew he had to be.' She slowly, hesitantly licks his lips, begging for entrance. He pauses for a moment, unsure of what to do so she licks his lips again, only this time more sensually. He finally gets her meaning and, with a fresh blush crossing his face, he slightly open his mouth and Haruka's tongue darts inside, tasting him as much as possible and relishing the moment.

Just as they both begins to really get into their little make out session, a sharp knock downstairs echoes throughout the entire café and small house upstairs. 'Damn it!' she thinks, getting off of her beloved with great restraint, and rushing out of the room, loudly sliding the door shut on her way out. She quickly ties her robe tight around her to cover up any unnecessary showing of flesh and walks down the stairs. "This had better be good or else someone's dead!"

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As soon as the door slams shut, Keitaro sits up, his eyes wide with surprise. He runs a shaky hand though his hair, feeling fresh perspiration on his face. "Man that dream was something else!" he mutters while licking his lips. He looks over to the digital clock resting on a desk near the door, sighing a bit as he sees the time. "7:15? Well I guess I have to get up and start helping Au…I mean Haruka with her café." He reaches over and puts his glasses on, the room around him instantly coming into focus. With a small yawn, he makes his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead. 'I wish I could've seen that woman's face,' he mildly thinks, touching his lips with a silly grin. 'I bet she is really beautiful!'

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Downstairs, Haruka unlocks and opens the front door rather forcefully, revealing a startled Naru on the other side. "Oh! G-Good morning Haruka! I-I just wanted to see…well..." she stumbles out the words, a little bit afraid of a very grumpy looking Haruka at the moment.

The older woman sighs inwardly, letting her frustration leave her for the moment. "Sorry Naru," she calmly apologizes, "you know I'm not much of a morning person, especially right after I wake up."

"Y-Yeah," she responds, awkwardly scratching the side of her head, "and I guess I could've not knocked so hard on your door like I did. Sorry."

Haruka dismisses Naru's apology with a wave of her hand. "Don't worry about it, but I would like to know why you came all the way down here so early in the morning."

"Well," she fidgets, "I've been doing a lot of thinking since you and your nephew left yesterday, and…" she pauses for a moment, her face straining up as if she is in pain. Apparently what she is about to say is exceedingly difficult to get out, "…and I wanted to apologize for how rude I was to him."

The Urashima woman's eyebrows rise up in amusement. "An apology…from you? Am I dreaming?" at the younger woman's annoyed expression, Haruka moves aside to let her come in. "I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't here to hear it with my own two ears." She walks over to one of the tables, pulls down a chair and sits down on it, crossing her legs with a soft smile. "So what made you decide on this?"

Naru takes a seat down next to the café owner, looking a bit ashamed. "Well after your talk with us…the one after Keitaro left," she adds with a small cringe, remembering the older woman's unexpected anger, "I went up in my room and really started to evaluate my life…and the things I've been doing."

"And?"

"And," the young woman sighs, "I guess that at times I can be a bit brazen in my actions. I-I need to see things through before I act on them." She begins to rub her temples with a strained expression, as if what she just said has pained her again in some way.

Haruka gives her a soft smile. "Good girl." She lifts up a cigarette and lights it with her lighter, both seemingly appearing out of thin air. The first drag feels like a piece of heaven to her, as the first always is. Though she wants to quit for Keitaro's sake and to make him happy, quitting smoking is not an easy thing to do, and stopping it just at the drop of a hat is almost virtually impossible, especially for someone who has been smoking for the better part of a decade.

Haruka first got into smoking back in her early teens as a way to deal with the heavy amounts of stress she was going through at the time. She quickly got hooked and hasn't stopped since, despite all the possible consequences of her constant smoking. The main reason why she started smoking in the first place is currently upstairs, taking a shower and getting ready to work.

Despite her outwards appearance on things, Haruka does indeed care about how others think of her and her love for Keitaro had given her never ending worries about what kinds of horrible things they would've thought and said about her, and what a dishonorable young woman she was becoming for the things she was feeling and doing. This, of course, forced a stress upon her unlike anything she had ever felt before. After searching around for a while, she met several people who introduced her to the savior to her woes, namely the small flaming cancer sticks. Though nowadays Haruka tells everybody that she still smokes out of habit, subconsciously she continues to do it to deal with another nagging thought that has not yet ceased to be solved…the wondering on Keitaro's true feelings for her.

She is suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by Naru waving a hand in front of her face with a worried look etched across her pretty features. "Uh…Haruka? You there?"

"What? Oh yeah, sorry about that. I got a little lost in thought." Just at that moment, they hear footsteps make their way downstairs. The Urashima woman, acting quickly, puts out her cigarette and tosses the butt aside. Before Naru can ask why she just did that, Keitaro walks downstairs, a small towel chastely wrapped around his middle and dripping water.

"Haruka," he begins, "I think something's wrong with your hot water heater. I was in the middle of taking a shower when the water suddenly got really cold and…" he trails off as he notices Naru standing not too far from his aunt. He suddenly becomes very self-conscious and lowers his hands, covering his most private areas. "I…um…well I think I'll go back upstairs for now," he dumbly mutters. He starts to back up, not noticing the small puddle of water behind him that has accumulated while he was talking to Haruka. As he steps in it, his natural clumsiness kicks in full and he slips backwards, his back and head smashing down hard onto the floor, knocking the poor guy out momentarily.

Both Haruka and Naru rush to the young man's aid, but quickly blush at the sight before them. Keitaro is lying in a spread eagle position, and, considering that he is only wearing a small towel, he is showing off everything that makes him a male. Before the younger of the two women can fully appreciate what she is seeing, Haruka raises an arm and covers her eyes, all the while not being able to tear her gaze from her beloved. 'He sure has…_grown_ a lot since I last saw him,' she thinks with a smile.

The Urashima male opens his eyes and frowns at the ceiling above him. "How did I get on the floor?" He sits up and rubs the back of his head, where a bandage has mysteriously appeared. His eyes settle onto his aunt and Naru, the former covering the latter's eyes while both are blushing deeply. "What's wrong?" Keitaro asks, pushing his glasses back into place.

Haruka turns her head away, using great restraint to hide her feelings of disappointment. "You…may want to cover up Keitaro," she mutters, trying her damndest not to look back.

Keitaro looks down and, with a beet red face, hops into a kneeling position and covers himself up as best as he can. "I-I-I'm really sorry about that!" he apologizes, bowing slightly. Before his aunt can say a response, he stands back up, turns tail, and gets the hell upstairs to avoid any further embarrassment.

Naru backs away from Haruka's arm, scratching her chin meekly. "I'm…gonna get going now. I guess I'll talk to you later or something." When the older woman nods lightly, she walks out of the Café Hina and closes the door, feeling strangely calm about the situation. As she slowly walks up the stairs leading to the Hinata House, she suddenly remembers something. While Haruka was covering her eyes to shield her from…_seeing_ Keitaro, she noticed the older woman was not looking away herself and that she had a rather…hungry look in her eyes. The Tokyo U aspirant quickly shakes her head. "Jeeze, what the hell am I thinking?" she mutters out loud. "She's his aunt! That's…that's nasty!" Her entire body shudders in revulsion. "Man, I've been watching too many soap operas with Kitsune," she mutters while walking back up to her residence. "They've been putting too many strange notions in my head. An aunt who is romantically interested in her nephew, yeah right!"

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A short while later, both Keitaro and Haruka are fully dressed and are setting up the café to open up soon. The young man is taking all of the seats off the tops of the tables and sitting them upright while his aunt prepares the tea, coffee and papers for her usual morning customers. "You know," he suddenly says, "before I woke up I had a really good dream."

"Really?" Haruka calmly replies, raising a speculative eyebrow. "Was it about the little girl and your promise to go to Tokyo U together?" Though she pretends like it is nothing to her, Keitaro's promise girl has always been something of a bother to her. The thought that he has been driven to accomplish a goal he made around 15 years ago for some little girl who he doesn't even remember what she looks like quite naturally upsets her. 'Though there was this morning,' she thinks with a light smile and blush.

"No, not really," Keitaro answers while sitting down in a seat he just put down. He looks up at the ceiling, a wistful expression now adorning his face. "I don't really know what was happening, I just remember a beautiful woman leaning over me, and she was kissing my forehead." He begins to blush as he remembers looking down the woman's robe and the amazing sight that his eyes soaked in. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on what vantage point you are using, he doesn't realize that the nice view he saw this morning is exactly the same one he saw last night while his aunt was giving him a goodnight kiss on the forehead. Since he is staring at the ceiling, he doesn't see the look of complete shock that is now covering her face.

The older woman leans against the front counter, her hands shaking slightly. "S-so you were dreaming this?" After she says this, she flinches at how weak and afraid her voice sounded, even if it was only just a little bit.

Luckily for her, Keitaro is too enamored at reminiscing about his 'dream' to notice. "Yeah, I've never had a dream like that…strangely enough," he adds with a chuckle. "Well I don't know what came over me, but the next thing I knew, I was pulling her down and we were kissing." His blush depends a couple of shades. "I didn't see her face, but I bet she was really beautiful…and she was an amazing kisser!"

Haruka turns her head to the side, trying to hide the glorious flush that is caressing her lovely face. She quickly shakes her blush off and stands up, although she seems to hold much more pride in her step at the moment. "Alright Keitaro," she begins, "enough daydreaming, we've got to get ready to open up soon." Though she is upset that Keitaro thinks their encounter earlier was nothing more than a dream, she knows that, by him living with her, she will have plenty of opportunities to get her true feelings across and, quite hopefully, have them returned in full.

"Yes ma'am!" Keitaro responds while getting up and finishing taking all the seats down. Soon customers have started to come in and Haruka waits on them while her nephew works in the kitchen making food.

The day goes by with relative unease, except for at one point near the end of the day when Keitaro goes out of the kitchen to help his aunt bring out several orders. As he makes his way to the customers, the Tokyo U aspirant steps onto another small puddle and slips onto the ground, every single plate and bowl he was holding somehow manage to fall directly onto his head, everyone smashing and spilling their contents all over him. The café erupts in laughter at the expense of Keitaro's extreme embarrassment. Picking up the shattered pieces of both the dishes and his pride, the young Urashima backs off back into the kitchen, not exiting from it for the rest of the day.

Haruka watched the entire event with a heavy heart, wanting to both help her beloved up and make him feel better…in any way necessary, and also to pound the living daylights out of everyone who laughed at him. 'It's times like these,' she thinks to herself, 'that I really wish that I could let my feelings be known without worrying what everyone would think of me.'

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A short while later, after closing and cleaning up, the two Urashimas walk their way up to the Hinata House again to, hopefully get through the introductions again without any more…problems. They reach the top and the large building looms in front of them. Keitaro shivers slightly on a nonexistent breeze. "Don't know why," he mutters out loud, "but suddenly I'm feeling really nervous."

The older of the two places a comforting hand on her beloved's shoulder. "Don't worry Keitaro," Haruka assures, "nothing's going to happen this time. I've had a little chat with the girls and they'll mind their manners this time, I promise."

The younger Urashima gives his aunt a half amused, half serious glance. "You know how I feel about promises, don't you?"

"Of course I do you big goof," she replies, acting out of character and putting Keitaro in a headlock, rubbing his head playfully. She skillfully pulled him in towards her in the headlock in a way that now has the side of his face pressed up against her right breast, her original intentions in her actions. He tries to free himself, but finds himself unable to do so. "What's the matter Keitaro?" she asks with a very slight chuckle. "Don't tell me you're letting an older woman overpower you!" Haruka's smirk widens as she feels his face heat up. 'Yeah,' she thinks to herself, tightening her grip on him 'you may struggle, but you know you like what your head's squishing up against. You like it a lot.'

'This is bad,' Keitaro thinks, frantically trying to escape his aunt's vise like grip on him, 'this is very bad…and wrong! Can't she feel my face against her…her b-br…_her_!?' He tries again to escape, this attempt also in vain. 'Okay, this isn't working. Gotta think of something to get free and get away from her soft, warm, round, nice smelling….WHAT THE HELL!!??' his mind screams in alarm. 'What am I thinking!? Bad Keitaro, bad!' After this thought, he redoubles his efforts to escape his aunt's womanly charms.

The slightly older woman fights hard to suppress the giddy giggle that is dying to be let out. 'I haven't had this much fun in years.' A gasp escapes her as Keitaro shifts his body and somehow manages to pick her up off of her feet. In her surprise, she releases his head. "Hey, how'd you do that? I thought you weren't going to get out of my headlock." She gives him an amused smile, which then turns into a slight blush as she suddenly realizes that he is carrying her bridal style. 'One day,' she muses, 'you will carry me like this again, and it'll have a lot more meaning to it when you do.'

"Well I just remembered that you used to give me a lot of headlocks when we were younger," he answers, " and I'd finally found out how to do that and then you left on your college digging thing." He puts her down in front of him, a small smile gracing his kind and warm features.

"It was an archaeological trip funded by the college," Haruka corrects him, straightening out her clothes. "I'll tell you about it some other time, but for now let's get going. We've got some proper introductions to go through." She starts to turn around when fate kicks in.

A stray rock comes flying out of nowhere and, quite coincidentally, smacks directly in the back of Keitaro's head. The force of the blow pushes him forward, straight into his startled aunt. Their foreheads collide painfully and they fall to the ground, both out of it at the moment. When they both open their eyes, they find themselves in quite the compromising position.

Haruka is lying on her back with her legs spread open and Keitaro, surprise, surprise, is on top of her in between her legs while their faces are just mere centimeters apart. "Are…are you okay?" the Urashima woman asks in a hushed whisper, feeling her beloved's hot breath all over her face which gives her small shivers of excitement all through her body.

"Y-Yeah," the young man responds, feeling his face heat up again at his position on top of the lovely female specimen below him. 'Man, this is a whole new level of wrong!' his mind whimpers, 'though…looking at her this closely…she's actually really…' but her never gets to finish that thought as a fierce battle cry sounds in the air, scaring the birds out of the trees for several miles in every direction.

"PERVERT!"

Keitaro looks up just in time to see a size 7 women's sneaker flying at his face at an incredible rate. He manages to get out a short, "Ack!" just before he is struck and is lifted up off of the ground and soars away, soon becoming nothing more than a tiny spec in the sky.

Haruka is so shocked at what just happened that she doesn't notice someone pulling her to her feet and dust her off. As she comes to, a great anger boils inside, preparing to erupt on that stupid, stupid girl who unfairly attacked _her_ Keitaro. She swiftly turns around, a fierce scowl spreading across her face at her soon to be victim.

"Are you alright Haruka?" Naru worriedly asks. "I saw him attack you from my room so I got down here as fast as I could and took care of the dame pervert, and there's plenty more coming for his sorry ass when he gets back! I mean, trying to take advantage of his own flesh and blood! God, what a sicko!" She suddenly hunches forward in pain as a fist slams hard into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

"What did I tell you yesterday you stupid little brat?" the Urashima woman hisses, looking even angrier than she did yesterday. "I will not tolerate anyone, especially you, insulting or hurting Keitaro. He is a good, kind-hearted young man who just happens to be a bit clumsy. What just happened was an accident, an accident that could've been overlooked if _you_ hadn't have jumped to conclusions like you always do." She takes a deep breath in an attempt to cool her temper. "You've just proven that I can't trust you to be anywhere near Keitaro alone, so there's no chance in hell that I'm letting him study with you."

Naru unsteadily gets to her feet, rubbing her stomach gingerly. "Good," she rasps out defiantly, "I…didn't want to…study with him…either! Damn…pervert," she adds with a sneer, which quickly fades at the look the older woman is giving her. She lets out a light squeak as Haruka grabs the front of her shirt and lifts her up so close to her that their noses are nearly touching.

"Now listen here you little bitch," she growls dangerously, "you know how tolerable of a person I usually am, but you've just about taken me to my limits. You'd better stay in line and be a good girl like you said you would earlier, especially around Keitaro. If you don't, I'll kick you out of the Hinata House…and I'll kick your ass for being such a pain in mine." She lets go of Naru and backs off, reaching into her apron for a much needed cigarette. After she lights up, she calms down considerably. "Sorry about exploding on you like that," Haruka says, a halo of smoke floating above her head, "nicotine withdrawals. They make me…cranky."

"Why would you be having withdrawals? You'd only get that if you don't smoke or something." The young woman scratches the side of her head. "I thought you always smoke."

The Urashima woman sighs deeply, an almost defeated expression playing across her face. "Yeah, well I haven't been able to smoke a full cigarette since Keitaro got here." At Naru's questioning glare, she adds, "He's always been a bit concerned about my constant smoking and its long term effects on my health. I told him that I'd try to quit, but it's not easy. Going cold turkey is not fun."

The Tokyo U aspirant giggles slightly, feeling a bit better from earlier. "Alright, I'll cut you a deal Haruka. I'll try to go easier on Keitaro like I said before, but if I do go a little…_excessive_ on him, you won't kick me out or attack me and in return, I won't tell your nephew that you're still smoking when he's not around."

Haruka raises a speculative eyebrow. "That was…crafty and vindictive. You've been spending too much time around Kitsune. She's rubbing off on you."

Naru giggles again, giving the older woman a raspberry. "Well I'm going back inside, I've got a lot of studying to do…"

"And I've got to go find Keitaro…wherever he is you sent him," the Café Hina owner adds with a light scowl and crossed arms.

"Uh…yeah." The temperamental young woman looks aside, a faint blush gracing her cheeks. "I'm sorry about that. I'll try to think before I act next time. Seriously."

Haruka turns around and begins to head back downstairs, her main reason for coming up having been super punted off into the distance. "You do that, and remember what I told you." She raises a hand in saying goodbye. "I'll be back up eventually…if I find Keitaro before it gets too late."

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Meanwhile, the aforementioned young man is hanging upside down by his shirt on the highest branch of a tree he collided with, though, despite his situation, his mind is elsewhere at the moment. "Man, what is wrong with me?" he mutters out loud. "I shouldn't be having those kinds of thoughts."

'But you are,' his mind retorts, 'and you enjoy them…a lot!'

"Please don't remind me," he moans, pushing his glasses up and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Damn it! Of all the women that I'm attracted to, why's the one I'm interested in the most have to be my aunt?"

**To be continued…**

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**Author's notes**: Hey there everyone! I updated! If any of you read my Ranma ½ fic, you'll know that I've been getting back into my old swing and the ideas are coming back nice and strong. Right now, I'm working my "The Return to Darkness" Tenchi fic and "Uncontrolled Passions" Love Hina fic. With the latter, I will only post it on since it'll have too much sex to be allowed on this site without being deleted. I'll get one of them posted eventually. Please keep patient.

On Love Hina news: well it looks like Haruka's charms have finally begun to work on Keitaro, but what will the young man do now that he's realized that he's attracted to his own aunt? How will he act around her? What will he do? Find out in the next chapter! – _lighthawkdemon_

Questions or comments? E-mail me at: **lighthawkdemon** at Y!


	4. Chapter 3: The Start of Something

**Love Hina**

_Disclaimer: This episode of Love Hina is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Love Hina. "Love Hina" and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1999-2004 Ken Akamatsu/Mixx Entertainment Inc. Love Hina is a trademark of TOKYOPOP®. All rights reserved._

**Family Affairs  
Chapter 3:  
The Start of Something**

"Ah, so there you are," Haruka calmly says, finally finding Keitaro in a local park after over an hour of searching for him. She frowns slightly at his disheveled appearance and faintly visible bruise on his face. "Boy, you sure are a mess." The older Urashima reaches over to her beloved and extracts a few twigs and leaves from his hair. "What happened? Did you fall in a tree or something?"

Keitaro rubs the back of his head with a goofy smile. "Actually, yeah I did. I just got down from it a couple of minutes ago. Narusegawa lodged me in it pretty well." He begins to feel nervous at the nearness between him and Haruka, having just realized how physically attracted he is to her not too long ago. He feels his heart lurch at the kind look in her eyes as she helps clean him up. 'Damn it Keitaro,' he mentally chides himself, 'she's your aunt! You can't think about her like that! She's trying her hardest to help me and make me happy and all I can think about is her beautiful face and her great body with those long smooth legs and nice bre…GOD DAMN IT!' he is nearly knocked back by the force of his internal shouting, managing to only stumble slightly. He turns away from his now concerned aunt, a pained expression on his face. 'God, I really am a pervert. I'm even worse than Haitani and Shirai.' With that _extremely_ depressing thought, he continues onwards back towards the Café Hina with Haruka right next to him.

The older woman watches her beloved beside her, her heart crying out for her to just wrap her arms around him and hold him until all of his problems are gone. Not wanting to do something so drastic and possibly frighten him off, she concedes to only place a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Her eyebrows rise slightly a she feels the young man tense under her touch. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asks in a non-concerned voice, though she is feeling the complete opposite on the inside.

"N-Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" he quickly replies, waving his hands in front of him frantically. After noticing his foolish action, his arms droop at his sides as he sighs deeply. "Sorry, I…uh…I guess I'm still a little jumpy…yeah, jumpy. The last time you and I got close to each other…physically," he pauses for a moment to blush heavily in thought, "I got kicked in the face…really hard."

Haruka's face twists into a scowl in remembrance. 'I let that damn girl get off way too easy for that,' she thinks to herself, 'I even joked around and made her laugh afterwards! Goddamn nicotine cravings, getting me to act all off I should've beaten the shit out of her!' She calms herself down and, deciding to have a little fun, adopts a sad expression. "Oh I see," the café owner begins in a hurt sounding voice, "you're using that as an excuse to not go near you're ugly old aunt isn't it?" The reaction is, as predicted, instantaneous.

Keitaro jumps in front of her, frantically waving his arms in front of her again in a strange attempt to dismiss his aunt's harsh words about herself. "No-no-no! I'm not using anything as an excuse! I-I just don't want you to get hurt by accident if one of those girls attacks me again…I'd never forgive myself if you got hurt because of me. And you're not old…not at all! You're only a few years or so older than me and I-I've always thought that you were really beautiful so…" He stops and slaps his forehead, realizing just how far he has just shoved his foot into his mouth. 'Damn, now she's gonna think I'm some weird pervert or something.'

The Urashima woman keeps her normal face of neutrality on the outside while she practically jumps for joy on the inside, his comments on her age and looks boosting her self-esteem up several notches. 'I'm finally starting to break through to him. With a little more time, I'll be able to tell him everything without any fear of a negative response.' Focusing her attention back on her beloved in front of her, she lightly responds, "Well now, its nice to know that some people still think I've got it." At the young man's confused look, she lightly raps him on the top of his head. "Come on you big goof, lets get going." She wraps her arm around his shoulder and begins to walk back home, a smile tugging at her lips as he doesn't try to free himself from her grasp. "Before I forget," she suddenly says, "I need to stop off at the pharmacy first. I'd like to get some of that nicotine gum," while mentally adding, 'I don't feel like not being able to control my emotions too well like that again.'

"Ah," Keitaro mutters, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "I see you're finally getting tired of smoking your cigarettes behind my back." He chuckles mildly at the unfamiliar look of shock that has spread across her lovely face. "I know I'm not the smartest guy around, but I'm not stupid…especially when you're breath, hair and clothes smell like smoke almost every time you're in a different room from me for more than several minutes." Haruka is embarrassed enough to actually blush very, very slightly. Before she can get out a reply, Keitaro chuckles a bit. "Don't worry, I'm not upset at you or anything. You are trying, and I can't get mad at you for that…not that I could ever be mad with you for anything."

The slightly older Urashima shakes her head with a light smile, sliding her hand off of his shoulder and linking arms with him. 'He knew about me still smoking and he didn't even get the slightest bit upset over it despite how much he disapproves of it…God I love this man!'

* * *

Back at the Hinata House, all the tenants go about their usual routine…though two of them are visibly troubled by recent events. Motoko has been on the top floor training vigorously ever since she woke up this morning, braking only for a short breakfast. "Damn it!" she shouts in between slashes of her samurai sword Shisui, "this is completely unfair!" She pauses as an uncomfortable shudder ripples through her entire body. "The thought that a _m-male_ could come up here at any given moment angers me to no end! And the fact that I cannot do a single thing to prevent him from venturing inside infuriates me even more!" A single leaf floats down in front of her and in a swift motion of Shisui, the leaf is split perfectly in two.

With a loud sigh, Motoko slumps down onto the ground, her sword clattering down beside her. "I do not understand Haruka's actions yesterday. I have never seen her so enraged…and over a male of all things! He may be her nephew, but that still gives her no right to allow him free reign around the Hinata House. Doesn't she know that he will most definitely attempt to peep on all of us while we bathe in the hot spring?" Another shudder overcomes her. "Just the thought of that perverted male staring at our naked bodies makes me feel ill!"

Soft footsteps coming up the stairs from behind catches her attention. The younger Aoyama sister turns her head and sees Shinobu carefully making her way to the top of the steps, carrying a rather large basket of laundry with her. "Oh, hello Motoko," she kindly greets. "I have to put up these wet clothes to dry. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you."

"You aren't," Motoko replies with a soft smile, standing up while grabbing Shisui. "I had just finished my morning training and was doing some thinking."

The young girl smiles lightly and moves towards the clothesline, putting the laundry basket down beside her. "Sometimes I like to come up here and think too," she says while looking up at the sky, the wind playing lightly with her hair. "Its so beautiful and peaceful up here…I can usually get a lot of thinking done." She turns her head towards her fellow tenant. "So what were you thinking about Motoko?"

The swordswoman shifts in her spot slightly. "Well…I am…that is…I was thinking about…yesterday."

"Oh? Were you thinking about when sempai came up?"

Motoko gives Shinobu a confused look, an eyebrow rising up a bit. "Sempai?"

The purple haired girl quickly looks down at the ground, a furious blush on her cheeks. "Y-Yes. That's what I've decided to call Keitaro. I don't know why, but I feel that calling him 'sempai' suits him. Please don't ask why." She grips the hem of her skirt tightly and fidgets uncomfortably.

With a light sigh, Motoko turns around. "Alright, I won't ask, but I do want you to be careful when he's around. Haruka's nephew or not, he is a male, and they are not to be trusted, especially in an all girls dormitory." With that, she walks to the steps and downwards back into the Hinata House.

Shinobu's lower lips trembles slightly, muttering, "But I thought he was a really nice person," while she returns to putting the laundry on the line, her mind wandering back to the handsome young man that came into her life yesterday. Her head snaps up and a furious blush graces her young cheeks. "H-Handsome? Why did I think he is handsome? I-I mean, he is kind of cute but…ah!" She pauses and slaps her hands over mouth, the redness on her face reaching near impossible levels. "Why am I thinking such strange things?"

* * *

Down on the first floor, Kitsune is lying down on the couch, watching her daily soaps while drinking her saké, having just developed a late afternoon buzz. The door to the kitchen suddenly opens and out walks Su, carrying a large bushel of bananas with a cheerful smile. "Hey Su," the fox eyed girl begins, sitting up a bit, "I take it you found out where Shinobu keeps the bananas hidden?"

"Yeppers!" the young foreign girl happily replies, carrying her haul like it's a long lost treasure she just found. "Took me a bit, but I finally found 'em. Shinobu's pretty good at hiding things from me, but not good enough! These babies should keep me happy for a while! Seeyas!" With a skip to her step, Su bounds up the steps to her room, intent on making her load considerably lighter.

With a shake of her head, Kitsune leans back down, focusing her attention back on her soaps, though her mind is elsewhere. 'If Haruka's nephew…what's his name…Keitaro…if he's gonna be up here from time to time…things sure will get pretty interesting around here.' She taps her chin in thought. 'From what I could tell before Naru and Motoko's little rampage, the kid seemed like a nice guy. He had some decent manners, which is a lot more than I can say for some of the guys I've met.' A light smile plays itself across her face for a brief moment. 'It doesn't hurt that he's kinda cute, but he should ditch the dorky glasses.' She takes another sip while the money hungry part of her mind kicks in, 'I gotta know his financial status before I try anything…though if he's Granny Hina's grandson, he's gotta have some serious inheritance coming his way, and he's gunnin for Tokyo U too, which means soon he could be swimming in dough!' With a gleeful smile and yen signs in her eyes, Kitsune puts her saké bottle to her lips, downing the rest of it with one large gulp.

* * *

Upstairs just outside her room, Naru leans against the railing of the courtyard entrance, staring up at the clear blue sky. "I don't know why," she mutters out loud, "but I feel that I got off pretty lightly with just a punch in the gut." The young woman gingerly rubs her stomach, wincing in pain at the light bruise that has formed. "With how pissed off Haruka looked, I thought for sure she was going to do a lot more to me."

With a shake of her head, Naru walks back in her room, intent on getting some studying done for the upcoming preparatory school exams. She sits down at her kotatsu with a couple books, some paper and her pencil, then puts on her coke bottle glasses and ties her hair into identical braids on each side, thus reverting to her 'study mode.' She slaps both of her cheeks a couple of times and shakes her head to clear her mind of any thoughts that are not studying related and opens the mathematics book.

After several minutes of staring blankly at the pages, Naru leans back and lies down on the floor with her arms spread out. 'I just can't focus,' she thinks with a large sigh. 'Each time I try to think of a problem I need to remember, I see Haruka's angry face staring down at me. I wonder why she's been getting so worked up…could it be because of Keitaro?' Naru takes off her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. 'I don't get it, but she's been acting strange ever since he got here, but why? What's going on between those two?'

The sudden thought of Keitaro and Haruka in a loving embrace and kissing passionately pops into her head, getting the Tokyo U aspirant to jump to her feet and shake her head furiously. "Holy crap!" she mutters out loud, "where the hell did that freaky picture come from?" She looks down at her books. "I think I'm studying too hard…its like frying my brain or something! Thinking disgusting thoughts like that, it's not right." The image makes a sudden reappearance, only this time both Urashima are sans clothing and in a much more…intimate embrace. With a strangled cry, Naru falls to her knees and clutches her head. "Oh God! It's horrible! Get it out! Get it out!"

* * *

Haruka and Keitaro leave the local pharmacy, the young man carrying a rather large shopping bag filled with his aunt's purchases. "Ugh," he groans, shifting the bag a bit to get more comfortable, "I thought you only needed some of that nicotine gum, what's with this other stuff?" his eyes dart inside the bag, which contains a lot of bathroom materials as well as some…feminine products.

"No," she calmly corrects, "I said that I'd _like_ to get some nicotine gum. I _needed_ all that other stuff."

Keitaro places the bag onto the ground and gives his aunt a very irritated look. "But why did I have to bring it all the counter and pay for it?" His face burns in embarrassment as he recalls the amused look the cashier girl gave him back inside the pharmacy.

Haruka shrugs her shoulders lightly. "Well I was busy looking at some magazines, and someone had to pay for my stuff."

The young man opens his mouth to retort, but promptly closes it, knowing full well that he can't win in this argument, especially against Haruka. "Alright," he sighs, "Lets go home." Keitaro picks the bag back up and begins to walk back home, but pauses for a moment. He takes a quick glance at his aunt and thinks, 'What the hell…' before deciding to hold out his free arm for Haruka. 'If she wants to get close, I'm not gonna stop her. Besides,' he adds with a small smile, 'I do like the feel of her body against me.'

By his side, the slightly older woman notices her beloved's open invitation. 'Good,' her mind says, 'another step at getting closer to him has been reached. Now he's the one who initiated close contact.' With a badly concealed grin, she takes Keitaro's arm and leans slightly into him, relishing in the simple, yet close moment being shared between them. "You know," she suddenly says, "it's starting to get late and I'm getting a bit hungry…how about you?" His stomach rumbles loudly in response, followed by a large sweatdrop and an embarrassed chuckle. "I'll take that as a yes. How do you feel about a beef bowl?" Her grin widens at his enthusiastic nod, knowing that particular food is his favorite. "Okay then, let's get going." She steers him in the direction of the closest beef bowl restaurant.

* * *

As the two Urashimas enter the restaurant, one of the waitresses walking by compliments, "My, don't you two make a very cute couple?"

Keitaro pointedly looks away, his face burning in embarrassment. "Well…uh…you see…"

"We're not like that," The older of the two explains, though she adds, 'at least…not yet,' mentally.

"Oh! I'm sorry," the young woman quickly apologizes, "it's just that I saw the way you were hanging on his arm and I thought you were, like, boyfriend and girlfriend or something."

The Urashima male's face reddens to an even deeper shade. "Y-Yeah." He separates his arm from Haruka's grasp, too flustered to notice the frown that has spread across her lovely face.

The waitress, however, does notice. With a knowing smile, she steers the two towards one of the smaller, cozier booths. They sit down and have soon ordered their drinks and food and are eating in relative silence, both too nervous to think of anything good to say, since to them, this feels a little like an actual date. Keitaro shifts a bit in his seat and his foot bumps into Haruka's. Blushing, he pulls his feet under his seat and looks away. The slightly older woman reaches over the table and takes her beloved's hands in her own. "Hey, what're you so nervous about Keitaro?"

"O-Oh…uh…n-nothing Haruka!" he quickly responds, suddenly finding his beef bowl very interesting. 'I'm worried about all these things I'm thinking about you,' he mentally answers. 'I know they're supposed to be very wrong…but they don't feel wrong…not at all…and that's got me really worried.' He tilts his head up and Haruka's beautiful face, which is filled with kindness and concern at the current moment. A wave of guilt passes through the young man. 'Damn it, she's been nothing but completely wonderful to me and all I can do is think things about her that I shouldn't. I'm a terrible person.' He reaches into his pocket and pulls out several bills, tossing them onto the table while standing up. He mutters a quick, "I'm sorry," before moving out of the booth, grabbing the bag of items from the pharmacy and quickly exiting the restaurant, leaving a confused and now slightly distressed Haruka behind.

The older woman stares at the spot where her beloved was just sitting, a mixture of thoughts and emotions swirling through her. "Sorry?" she mumbles under her breath, "what is he sorry for?" She is about to toss in a few bills in with Keitaro's, but she notices that he already left more than enough for both the food and tip. With a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes, Haruka stands and leaves the beef bowl, intent on catching up with Keitaro and finding out exactly what he meant, but unfortunately for her, he is nowhere to be found. 'I left just a few seconds after him, she thinks. 'Where did he disappear to so fast…unless…' a pang of deep sorrow fills her, 'unless he was lying to me earlier…and he doesn't think I'm attractive or young at all and wanted to get far away from me.' Her hands rise up to her face as an unusual wetness suddenly forms in her eyes. 'I-I'm…crying?' She furiously tries to wipe away her tears, but more keep on coming out. 'I can't believe this. I haven't cried since…since I was a little girl…before Keitaro came into my life.'

* * *

Some distance away, Keitaro stops his running at the front door of the Café Hina. He puts his hands on his knees and gasps for air, the extra weight of the bag he's towing making the run a bit longer and more exhausting than he thought. 'I feel bad about leaving Haruka like that, but I know she can handle herself. I-I just don't think I can face her right now…everything is just way too confusing for me.' He looks up at the darkening sky, a sad expression etched across his face. "Coming here was a mistake. I really care about Haruka…a lot more than I probably should, but I don't think I can stay here anymore."

He rushes inside and up the stairs and, knowing full well that Haruka will be back soon and wanting an explanation, takes a fast shower in her bathroom and goes into his room. He locks the door behind him and slowly stalks his was to his futon, the young Tokyo U aspirant's mind struggling to find a good way to break the news to his dear aunt. He plops down onto the futon, holding his head in his hands. 'There's no easy way to do this,' he thinks in finality. Hot tears sting Keitaro's eyes. 'Damn it, just thinking about what I'm gonna do…and how Haruka will probably react…it hurts.' A few tears sprinkle down onto the floor in front of him. 'I know what I have to do…but I don't think I have the strength to do it.'

* * *

A short while later, Haruka enters her café/home, looking exhausted mentally and frail physically, her thoughts concerning Keitaro getting the better of her. She closes and locks the door for the night and walks up the stairs at the other side of her café, hoping to have a serious talk with her beloved. 'I-I can't do this,' she thinks to herself. 'I can't keep him in that dark about how I feel for him anymore. Having him around me all the time and not being able to get as close to him as I want…it's eating me up inside.' She stops in front of his room, nervous but confidant. She takes a deep breath before knocking on it a couple of times, calling out, "Keitaro? Are you in there?"

The Urashima woman waits a few moments for a response, but none comes. She knocks again and tries to open the door, but it is locked. Feeling fresh tears form in her eyes again, Haruka slides down to her knees, her forehead resting against the door. "Please," she whispers, the slightest hint of desperation in her voice, "I just want…we need to talk." She pauses for a moment, realizing how pathetic she sounds. Chuckling to herself, she gets to her feet and shakes her head, clearing up her thoughts. "Look Keitaro, I know things have been a bit…awkward around here, and I understand that you're probably confused. All I want to do is talk. I'm going to take a shower and when I get out, I expect this door to be unlocked." She then decides to put the final nail in the coffin. "I've always been here for you so please, just this once, be here for me."

She turns around and walks to the bathroom just as she opens the door, the café owner hears Keitaro's door unlocking. A brilliant smile appears on her face and she thinks to herself, 'Damn, I'm good,' before closing the door behind her.

Unbeknownst to her, Keitaro was having the exact same thought.

* * *

Haruka walks out of the steamy bathroom, wearing her favorite small silk bathrobe. She chews on some of the nicotine gum she had Keitaro buy her earlier, the nicotine helping calm her down a great deal. 'I can't believe how emotional I was,' she thinks. 'I was so ready to confess my love for Keitaro, and to hell with the consequences.' She raps herself lightly on the head. 'That could have been a foolish, and possibly costly mistake.' She makes her way to Keitaro's room and knocks once before entering. "Hey there."

He nervously responds, "H-Hi Haruka." Though his glasses are off, Keitaro can tell she's only wearing that tiny robe of hers, the one that shows off a tantalizing amount of her silky smooth skin. He shields his eyes as his aunt flips a switch on the wall and bright light fills his room. "So," he grunts while sitting up from his futon, the top cover sliding down to reveal his shirtless upper torso, "what…exactly do you want to talk about?" The young man leans forward as his hands search the floor for his glasses. 'Where did I put…' he pauses his thought as Haruka holds them out in front of him. He mutters a quick, "Thanks," as he takes his glasses and puts them on.

"You know," the slightly older woman begins thoughtfully, "you should get some new glasses. Those old things are too big and blocky. You should get a smaller pair, something that would accentuate your face more. I could take you over to the eye doctor tomorrow if you'd like." She kneels down next to the young him and gives him a kind smile.

"I-I guess that would be nice," he replies, looking away with a light blush. The robe is very loosely tied around her and right now, it is showing off a lot more of her body then should be. 'Don't look,' he mentally commands, 'don't look.' His eyes slowly move away from his covers over to the lovely vision in front of him. 'Damn.' If he were speaking out loud, it would've been hard to tell which feeling were more prevalent in that thought, the disappointment at himself or the sheer awe he feels at his aunt's beauty.

Haruka moves a bit closer to her beloved and leans forward, allowing her robe to slide down her right shoulder slightly, exposing more of her silky smooth skin. "Look Keitaro," she begins in her normal, emotionless voice, "I know things have been a little…out of the ordinary between us lately, and I'm sorry if I'm making you feel uncomfortable." The young man is about to respond, but Haruka holds up a hand to silence him. "No Keitaro, please just let me finish. I know that there's something that's making you act…wary and a little secluded, and I'm pretty sure it's me." She reaches over and places a comforting hand on top of his. "We used to be so close when we were younger, I miss those times. I'd like to know why, like earlier, you'd get close to me, then suddenly distance yourself." After she finishes, she nods internally to herself. 'Okay, not exactly what I wanted to talk to him about, but maybe this can answer some questions I've been wanting to ask.'

"I…w-well…you see," Keitaro rambles, unable to get a clear thought out. He stops and scratches the back of his head with an embarrassed smile, a silly habit that Haruka's always loved since it displays how adorably innocent he can be at times. 'Can I tell her the truth?' he thinks. 'If I do…it could change everything between us.' The young man looks up at her eyes, which show patience and kindness in them at the current moment, and feels himself becoming more confident about how he should respond. 'I should tell her the truth. It would be wrong to lie to her about something like this.' He clears his through before answering, "W-Well…" he pauses to take a deep breath, "after out little…_incident_ earlier up at the Hinata House I…well…IrealizedthatI'mreallyattractedtoyou…physically!" He bows his head down, expecting his aunt to berate him.

The elder Urashima is completely stunned at her beloved's words. 'It makes sense now. He wants to get close, but is worried what I'd think and…well pretty much everything I've ever worried about since I realized that I was in love with him. I'm one step closer to making Keitaro mine.' Now feeling a great weight lift off of her shoulders, Haruka decides to have a little fun. She reaches over and gently lifts up Keitaro's head while leaning forward even more. "So," she slowly begins in a husky voice, getting the hairs on the back of her beloved's neck to stand on end, "does that mean you…want me?"

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-what?" he squeaks, his body going rigid. The young man's eyes slowly widen as his aunt closes the distance between them, a strange look in her eyes. "Ha-Haruka…what are you doing?"

"What do you think?" she breathes, her lips just inches from his. She waits for him to hesitantly close his eyes in hesitation before she backs away and playfully tweaks him on the nose. When he opens his eyes with a confused expression, she chuckles happily at him. "Man, you really need to learn to loosen up a bit, you're too easy to tease." She stands up and places a hand on her hip which, added with her small robe that is barely clinging to her slim frame, makes her look incredibly sexy. "But on a plus side, you do earn some brownie points for being able to admit your attraction to me, that was very brave of you to do."

She turns around and starts to walk away when Keitaro says, "Um…you…uh you're not…mad at me…or freaked out…or anything?"

Haruka pauses just inside her nephew's room, turning her head slightly and revealing a small smile on her lovely face. "No, I'm not mad or worried or anything. Besides," she puts her hand back on her hip, mirroring the pose she was in just a few moments ago, "with a body as hot as this, any man would want me." The older Urashima chuckles again at her beloved's frustrated groan. "Goodnight Keitaro." She turns off his light, exits the room and slides the door shut while placing a hand over her rapidly beating heart. 'I was soooo close,' she mentally whines, feeling a bit upset at herself. 'I should have kissed him. I could tell…no…I _knew_ that he wouldn't have pushed me away if I did.' The café owner sighs and shakes her head, mumbling, "Next time…next time I won't stop. The next time we get close like that again, I will express my love for him, emotionally and physically." With a pleasant shiver of excitement running down her spine, Haruka walks to her room for the night.

Back in his room, Keitaro lies down on his futon, his hands resting on his chest while a sigh of relief escapes him. 'I'm so glad she didn't freak out or anything bad,' he thinks, 'though her reaction was…something else.' A light blush appears on his cheeks. 'Man, I thought she was really going to kiss me! If-if she did…I'm pretty sure I would've kissed her back.'He shifts to his side and looks out the window, the sky quickly filling with some menacing looking clouds. "I think I will stay here after all," he mutters with a happy smile.

**To be continued…**

* * *

**Author's notes**: Well things are slowly heating up for the two Urashimas now, and they're going to get hotter very soon. In the next chapter, nature will play its part in strengthening their bond with each other. See how this happens soon.

In other Love Hina news, I'm not too sure if any of you have noticed, but I have altered the first chapter of my other Love Hina fic 'Different Promises' ever so slightly. The change was right in the beginning, where I altered Kanako's age from 8 to 6. It's not a major change, but I realized from looking through my manga that there appears to be about a four year or so difference in Keitaro and Kanako's ages. Like I said, it's not a major alteration, but I just wanted to make it seem more accurate.

Oh yeah, I'm also piecing together a good plan for the direction of the next chapter of 'Uncontrolled Passions.' It will be hot and heavy! I will have an edited version posted on this site while the full, unedited version will be posted on two other sites.

Now I will get to more serious work on both of my Inu-Yasha fics. They seriously need updates and I have ideas on where I am taking them. Please stay eternally patient and I will get them up as soon as I can. – _lighthawkdemon_

Questions or comments? E-mail me at: **lighthawkdemon**(at)**Y!**


	5. Chapter 4: A Night to Remember

**Love Hina**

_Disclaimer: This episode of Love Hina is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Love Hina. "Love Hina" and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1999-2006 Ken Akamatsu/Mixx Entertainment Inc. Love Hina is a trademark of TOKYOPOP®. All rights reserved._

**Family Affairs  
Chapter 4:  
A Night to Remember**

A short while after her talk with Keitaro Haruka finds herself on the roof of her café doing the one thing she said she would stop doing ever since her beloved came back into her life…namely smoking one of her cigarettes. Although she has repeatedly promised the younger man she would quit, their talk earlier as well as the near kiss they shared left her both flustered and frustrated and she needed something to help ease her built up tension. The Café Hina owner takes a long drag and breathes out a halo of smoke, watching as it rises up into the cloudy night sky. She shivers slightly as a cool breeze blows by, her small silk robe not doing much for keeping her warm.

Despite the weather, she has always enjoyed her quiet time up here on the roof, her safe little haven from everything that troubles her in the world around her. Sitting up here watching everything go by, Haruka can drop her normal stoic mask and let out the true woman underneath. It is up here where she can feel most content at times, though currently she is feeling anything but.

"This is killing me," the Urashima woman mutters aloud while rubbing her temples. "There he was, the man I've wanted for longer than I can remember with our lips no more than an inch apart from each other…and I backed off. Damn it Haruka!" she raps herself on the side of the head. "Why couldn't you have just taken that last step and claimed what could've been yours?"

As she pauses to take another drag from her little stick of heaven, she thinks back to the event that occurred just a short while ago and wonders why she acted like she did. After a few minutes and a cigarette and a half later, she is level-headed enough to think of the one obvious reason for her actions.

"I was scared," she whispers, shivering again though there isn't a breeze this time. "After everything we've been through in the last couple of days, I still don't know if he will accept me and love me as I love him." She hugs herself and closes her eyes with a sad expression marring her pretty features. "I can't lose him now. Keitaro means more to me now than he ever has before and if I let him walk away…I don't know how I can go on." The still young woman furiously wipes her eyes as she feels hot tears begin to form. "Damn it! I can't be crying again! I hate feeling this damn weak! I used to be so much stronger than this." With those last thoughts, she tosses her still lit cigarette off of her roof and goes downstairs to hopefully get some much needed sleep.

**

* * *

**

Up at the Hinata house on the third floor, Motoko is lying down on her futon in her room with Su, who is glomped onto her with a near unbreakable vice-like grip. For any normal person being trapped in such a tight glomp like Su's would make it incredibly difficult for them to get sleep, as well as quite painful…but the young Aoyama is far from normal. Years of training have honed her lithe body to withstand large amounts of stress and pain so the dark skinned gaijin's nightly actions have no affect on the her slumber whatsoever…but it isn't Su that is keeping her awake.

The raven haired beauty tosses and turns for three quarters of an hour before she finally becomes too impatient to lie down and, with a gentleness she rarely shows to others, slowly and softly extricates herself from Su's grasp. After she is free, the swordswoman leans down and places her hand on top of the hyperactive geniuses head a brief moment before walking over to her closet and changing into her traditional training outfit.

A few minutes later on the roof, Motoko is sitting down with her legs crossed and her arms folded across her lap in meditation…though her mind is in turmoil. Despite her best efforts, the young swordswoman cannot keep calm enough to do her daily meditating properly. Each time she has tried to calm down, her mind wanders back to what Haruka said to her the previous day and despite her reluctance to admit it, the older woman's words have affected her deeper than even she realized…and opened something inside of her she didn't know was closed off.

Breathing out a sigh, the young heir to the God's Cry School opens her eyes and slowly gets to her feet, her sword Shisui firmly grasped in her right hand. "Perhaps Haruka was correct," she mutters out into the quiet night. "Maybe my actions towards males have not been of the noblest. I…I suppose I did resent my oneesan and that…that man she married for settling me with a burden I did not deserve." She walks to the railing to gaze at the marvelous view below, though the frown marring her pretty features clearly suggest she isn't quite paying attention to the view.

She looks down at her hands. "All this time I believed I was bringing swift punishment to the perverts out there…was I mistaken? Were those I punished and judged not perverts? How…how many innocents have suffered by my hands? Have I brought dishonor and shame upon the Aoyama name and the Shinmei Ryu?" The young swordswoman feels hot tears sting her eyes and her sword slips from her grasp. Putting aside her pride, she falls unceremoniously to the floor while her body is wracked with silent sobs. "Damn you oneesan…why did you abandon me?"

**

* * *

**

Haruka wakes with a start as a rather bright bolt of lighting streaks across the night sky. She shudders uncomfortably and her heartbeat slowly increases as a loud clap of thunder ripping through the still silence quickly follows. The still youthful woman looks over at her digital clock, a frustrated sigh escaping her as she takes in the time. "Damn it," she mutters out loud, "I've only been down for a couple of hours, and this storm is gonna keep me up all damn night. I _really_ hate lightning." As if the Kami have heard her, they respond with a blinding strike of lightning, which is followed by an even louder and longer roll of thunder, this one being much too close by for Haruka's comfort. She lets out an uncharacteristic squeak of fear before leaping out of her bed and rushing out of her room, going right towards her one true source of comfort.

**

* * *

**

Keitaro Urashima is by nature a very heavy sleeper, sleeping much, much deeper in fact than any normal person. While this means that when he is asleep a tornado, an earthquake and an erupting volcano could all occur around him and it wouldn't phase his sleep in the slightest, it does give the unknown advantage of supplying him with an extra surplus of extra energy for the day ahead, energy that even the most seasoned athlete and martial artist wouldn't be able to use up in a single day.

Since this extra energy must be spent in some way, over the years it has managed to fuse itself with his body's natural Ki, giving him a super-natural endurance to physical attacks and also increasing his natural curative process so he heals at an astonishing rate. If he weren't so clumsy, with enough training he could have become a formidable warrior. It is also quite unfortunate that the extra energy doesn't also affect him mentally. He would have already been accepted into Tokyo University and would be following his dreams if that were the case.

Now Keitaro could normally sleep through just about anything, but a perfect female specimen flying on top of him is one of a very few number of things that can actually awaken him. The young man lets out a loud "OOF!" as the air is knocked out of him by the figure lunging onto his stomach. Before he gets the chance to see who it is, the figure slips into his futon and pulls up close against him. A flash of lightning causes the person next to him to shudder and in the brief moment of light he instantly recognizes who has come into his room at this late hour of night, though the list of likely candidates was severely limited. "Haruka," he gently whispers while wiping the sleep from his eyes, "are…are you okay?"

"Not really," the slightly older woman replies while pulling Keitaro closer, his presence helping to calm her down, like he is always able to do.

"So you're still afraid of lightning?" he guesses. As she nods vigorously in response, he wraps his other arm around her, remembering years back during his visits to the Hinata House when she'd crawl into his bed whenever it would storm out like it currently is. They were always very close back then and he was the only one able to calm her back down enough to get her to fall back asleep. Currently though, he's enjoying the nearness a little more than he should despite repeatedly telling himself that he should keep his distance from her physically. 'I can't help it,' he mentally sighs, 'she…she's just so beautiful and I want her so badly.'

Haruka sighs in content as her beloved wraps his arms around her in a comforting embrace. 'I forgot we always used to do this,' she thinks to herself. A small smile graces her features as another memory comes back to her. 'I remember praying for thunderstorms whenever Keitaro was around so I could have an excuse to sleep with him.' She shifts her body into a more comfortable position, lying on her side with her left arm draped across her nephew's bare chest. "Thanks Keitaro, I'm already feeling better." She yawns deeply afterwards, further expressing her statement.

"Oh it's nothing Har…" the Urashima youth pauses as his brain finally catches up to the rest of his body and he finally notices that he can't feel any clothes on his aunt, only lots of bare, smooth skin. His entire body tenses up in nervousness. "Um…Haruka?" he starts with a squeaky voice. "What happened…um I mean…uh…where are your clothes?"

The café owner's eyes shoot open in surprise. "Oh! I…well I like to…sleep without anything on. I guess I forgot to put a robe on after the thunder and lightning woke me up." She smiles sheepishly at him, though she is getting a rush at the feeling of being naked and lying so close to him. "Do you think you could go into my room and get my robe for me?"

Keitaro frowns slightly, his tiredness causing him not to think properly. "Why can't you go get it?" he groans out. "It's your robe and it's in your room."

With a sly smile, Haruka shrugs her shoulders and sensually slides herself up her beloved's bare chest. She holds in a giggle as he now remembers that she's not wearing anything and tenses up even tighter than before. The Urashima woman pushes herself up to her knees, letting the cover to the futon slide down her back to fully expose her body, feeling both excited and a bit nervous at exposing herself so brazenly in front of Keitaro, who is currently trying to look anywhere else and failing horribly.

She is about to stand up when the young man scrambles out from underneath her, covering his eyes with his right hand and waves his other hand around frantically. "I-I-I…um…don't worry about your robe cause I'll get it!" he hurriedly shouts. "Y-Yeah…I'll get it for you so just…stay right there and don't move!"

As he runs out of his room and falls flat on his face twice, Haruka covers her mouth and lightly chuckles. 'Oh he is so predictable like always…' she thinks, 'but that's what makes him so adorable.' A sly smile graces her features. 'Also knowing that he is very attracted to me does help to cross another barrier between us.' She slides back down into his futon and pulls the cover over her shoulders, taking in the scent of her beloved all around her and sighing in content. 'I just hope that he can overcome his shyness and get past that final barrier so we can finally be together and I can show him all the love I have for him.' A brief flash of lightning erases her content as she shivers lightly in fear, hoping Keitaro will get his ass back in his room very soon.

* * *

Up in the Hinata House Naru stops writing on her test paper to stretch her arms out with a large yawn. She looks at the digital alarm clock on her dresser and sighs. "All-nighters are such a pain," the young woman moans out loud while slumping her shoulders. She slaps her cheeks to clear her thoughts and goes back to her testing…though her heart is not entirely in it again. 'I still can't focus,' she thinks in frustration, 'and I'm not getting anything done just sitting here. I'm too…agitated.' The Tokyo U aspirant gets to her feet and drops her cardigan sweater onto the floor. "Maybe a short walk can help loosen me up."

Naru walks around her home, enjoying the unusual peace and tranquility all around her. As she passes by her best friend's room, she pauses as she notices the lights are on and she can hear the fox eyed girl's laugh through her door. With a shrug, she gently knocks and whispers, "Kitsune…are you up?"

On the other side of the door, the eldest tenant stops mid drink at all the noise on the other side of her door. 'Now who could that be?' she blearily thinks while unsteadily getting to her feet. She slowly slides her door open and lets out a toothy smile at who's on the other side, her cheeks flushed due to the effects of the alcohol. "Well helllooo Naru!" the seemingly inebriated young woman greets her gold old buddy. "What brings you alllll the way down here at this time of night?"

Her temperamental fellow tenant lets out a soft sigh at the state of the fox eyed girl in front of her. "I was just taking a walk to clear my thoughts." She looks at the large saké bottle in her friend's hand and raises an eyebrow. "I guess I don't need to ask what you were doing."

Kitsune chuckles for a moment before hiccupping. "I was jus celebratin' hun!" she exclaims. "Got me a good winner at the tracks today!" She reaches forward and grabs Naru's arm. "Come on an celebrate with me! Partyins much more fun with more people!" With a hearty laugh she drags her best friend into her room for some 'partying'.

* * *

Keitaro runs into his aunt's room and flips on the light switch. The second the bright light filters into the room, Keitaro's mind goes blank. "Alright," he mutters under his breath while scratching the side of his face, "where does Haruka keep her robe?"

Using his better judgment, or at least what he thinks is his better judgment, the young Urashima male goes for his aunt's dresser. He slides it open and instantly flushes a deep red, seeing as how the very first drawer he opens just happens to be her lingerie drawer. Being a guy, he can't just leave well enough alone. Keitaro reaches in and pulls out the first thing his hand touches which just so happens to by a lacy black see through thong, Haruka's most skimpy article of lingerie. With a face redder than a tomato at the rather detailed mental pictures that have come rushing into his head, the young man quickly stuffs the article of 'clothing' back into the drawer and slams it shut. "Okay," he mutters while wiping some of the sweat off of his forehead and unconsciously licking his lips, "wrong drawer."

He is about to open the drawer just below the top one when something in the corner of his eye catches his attention. Keitaro turns to his right, a large sweatdrop appearing on the back of his head as he sees Haruka's robe casually tossed onto a chair in the corner of the room. He mutters, "Next time I should probably look around her room first," as he grabs the small silky robe.

The young Tokyo U aspirant turns around and starts to leave but pauses next to Haruka's dresser, his eyes lingering at the top drawer. 'I never though Haruka would wear those kinds of clothing,' he thinks to himself. 'Come to think of it, she may act all stern and responsible and stuff…but she's only seven years older than me and still pretty young.' As his hand subconsciously draws nearer to the dresser, his mind is suddenly filled once more with images of his aunt wearing a vast assortment of kinky lingerie while in very suggestive poses. "Okay, time to leave!" he mutters while shaking the very wrong images out of his head…though he is quite reluctant to do so.

* * *

Naru laughs merrily at the joke Kitsune just told her. The younger of the two hiccups slightly and almost spills the drink in her hands. Somehow her fox eyed best friend managed to get her to have a drink…then two…then three…and after that she was inebriated enough to continue drinking without her best friend practically begging her to. The young soon to be high school graduate stops chuckling for a moment and gets a slightly thoughtful expression on her face. "Ya know," she begins while slowly tilting her head towards good ole Kitsune, "iss been a while since I seen you bring up some hunky guy…I kinda mish the occasional eye candy!" She places a hand on the side of her face and giggles with a slight blush. "Why don you bring em up here no more?"

The eldest tenant gives her friend a slightly exasperated look. "Are ya kiddin me?" she asks. "Its cause of you an Motoko that I can't get anymore guys up here!"

"Waddaya mean?" Naru questions in confusion while taking down the rest of her drink in one large gulp. She lets out a sigh as the burning liquid slides down her throat.

The Konno girl is quick to refill Naru's drink. Though her friend has been continuously drinking cup after cup of sake for the last hour or so, Kitsune has not had a drop in her since a little after her company joined her and has already begun to sober slightly. Mitsune levels her oldest friend with a serious expression. "Right after Motoko came here ya suddenly up and joined her on some sort of vendetta against 'perverts'…or who ya'll two say are perverts." The young woman takes a small sip of her saké right from the bottle and shakes her head. "Personally I see nothing wrong with havin a nice healthy sexual appetite." She smiles cheekily as Naru blushes at her words. "I don't know why ya all went up and got all anti-guy on me. I mean ever since…" she pauses and opens her eyes slightly as a sudden thought, one that she overlooked quite foolishly, comes to her. "Its not…you're not like this cause…cause of Seta now are you?" Her fears are confirmed as her good friend slowly lowers her cup from her lips and her eyes begin to tear up.

When Haruka first confronted Naru on the subject not too long ago she was hurt but managed to keep some semblance of control. Now, with a combination of the alcohol in her system and the trust she holds in Mitsune, she feels her control quickly slip away. "It…**sniff**…iss not fair," the Tokyo U aspirant softly sobs while staring down at her drink in her hands, "I…I liked him sooo much…a-an he jus left…**sniff**…he left and didn…he didn even tell me goodbye." She looks up at Kitsune, hoping for some comfort.

She is not disappointed when the slightly older girl opens her arms and says, "C'mon girl, big sister's here for ya."

Naru leaps into Kitsune's awaiting embrace and begins to sob uncontrollably, finally letting loose everything she has been holding inside for the last couple of years. Since her best friend is the only witness, she has no worries about having this incident being used against her in any way, because Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno may be a bit cunning and deceiving, but she'd never do anything to hurt her closest friend…never.

* * *

Haruka continues to lie in her nephew's futon, her patience rapidly decreasing while her discomfort begins to increase without him nearby to calm her with all the thunder and lightning outside. She is just about to get to her feet and see what the hell's taking him so long, clothing be damned, when Keitaro rushes back into his room with her robe in hand. "Found it!" he happily exclaims. The young man takes a few steps into his room when he suddenly stumbles over thin air and does a single somersault before he crashes onto his aunt.

When the younger Urashima opens his eyes he finds himself in quite the awkward position with Haruka…yet again. He is lying on top of her, one of her long slender legs between his and his hands pinning hers down to the floor. To make matters worse his face is planted right between his aunt's rather nice bare breasts. 'S-So soft…' his mind stammers at the feeling of the two mounds while his face heats up at an astonishing rate.

Below him Haruka is also slightly flushed and her breathing has become ragged. From an outsider's point of view right now it looks like Keitaro is forcefully pinning her to the floor and having his way with her. 'If only it were true,' she thinks while subconsciously licking her lips, the heat radiating off both her beloved's face and the rest of his body only helping to fuel her own needs and desires. "Keitaro…" she huskily moans, the tone and untold promises in her voice sending shivers down the young man's spine and alerting the presence of his best friend. The Urashima woman feels it press against her leg and her eyes haze over…as do Keitaro's. Feeling a little bold, she moves her leg a bit and smirks as the man above her gasps in shock and quickly bites his lip to stifle his moan. Freeing her right hand from her beloved's grip, Haruka reaches over and gently cups Keitaro's cheek and pulls him up from in between her breasts, a small patch of saliva residing where his mouth once was. Outside lightning strikes again but the café owner is too distracted to be affected.

The young man gazes into his aunt's eyes, seeing in them anticipation, hopefulness and an unbridled lust that matches his own. He gulps loudly as he notices once again how beautiful his aunt is. 'Up this close,' he calmly thinks despite the situation he is currently in, 'she is breathtaking. Her skin is…is…perfect.' He begins to sweat as he imagines several naughty fantasies all involving the lovely specimen below him. 'I-I should really get off of her,' his mind says in alarm, 'this is sooooooo wrong on so many levels!' Keitaro's rationality finally wins out and he lets go of the slightly older woman's other wrist and begins to push himself up. 'As much as I want to, she's my aunt,' he firmly tells himself. 'Haruka's just too shocked to push me back and if I did try something…she would probably hate me for being such a…a sick and twisted pervert.'

Below him Haruka feels total despair as her beloved slowly extricates his body from hers, his warmth on her nude body quickly being replaced with an icy coldness. She looks into his eyes and feels her heart tear in two as she sees them start to become distant. The Urashima woman knows that if she doesn't make a move now…she could possibly lose him and her one chance at pure happiness forever. Acting quickly she moves her free hand to the back of Keitaro's head and firmly holds him in place. "Don't," she softly says. "Please…just don't…don't leave me."

"H-Haruka," he hesitantly replies, looking anywhere but at his aunt. He knows that one look at her…one brief gaze into those dark, lovely eyes of hers and his entire resolve will crumble. "I…I don't know…w-we shouldn't do this." He closes his eyes as the beautiful slightly older woman below him cups his cheek and moves his face over so they are both facing each other again. "It…this isn't right."

The older Urashima frees her other hand and reaches up and rubs her thumb against Keitaro's oh so inviting lips. "Do you really feel that way," she asks him in an unusually steady voice as she removes her thumb and leans in for a soft, chaste kiss and keeps close so he can feel her hot breath on his face, "or are you lying to yourself and using that as an excuse?" At the small kiss, her heartbeat increases and she feels her desire for the young man leap to exponential levels. If her turns down her advances now…she might very well lose her mind.

Keitaro can't help but agree with her questioning, his better judgment taking a backseat for his wants and desires for thew lovely female below him. Tokyo U aspirant makes the one decision that he knows will result in this encounter going much farther than he originally wanted…he opens his eyes and gazes deep into his aunt's eyes. In this nearness he can see through her lust and anticipation and sees nothing but true, absolute love…love directed at him and only him. 'She…she wants this,' he thinks in wonder, 'she really wants this. Well…I want it too.' True to his own thoughts just moments ago, his resolution falls apart and he leans down and captures Haruka's lips in his own.

* * *

Kitsune is sitting up with Naru's head resting in her lap. A combination of physical exhaustion, the saké she quickly downed and venting out all her pain and sorrow onto her best friend took its toll on the younger of the two and she passed out into a blissful, happy slumber with undisturbed dreams.

The fox-eyed woman softly runs her fingers through the younger girls long auburn hair with a gentle smile. "You poor thing," she whispers. "I had no idea you were holding all of that in you." She sighs softly and turns her head to look out of her window and the peaceful night sky. She lets out a light chuckle after a few moments of silence. "I gotta admit, Seta is an easy man to fall for…and an even harder man to forget." She looks down at her slumbering friend and leans down to give her a peck on her forehead. "We've been through a lot of shit together girl and you've always stayed at my side…just like I've stayed by yours." Kitsune carefully lifts her friend's head and slowly moves herself out of the way, minding to place a pillow where her lap once resided so Naru won't have to rest her head on the floor. After making sure she is comfortable, the eldest tenant gets to her feet and stretches with a loud groan. "Cripes," she chuckles, "I really need a drink."

* * *

Haruka's heart nearly busts in elation when her beloved finally kisses her, and when he knows it isn't a dream too. She wraps around Keitaro and puts everything she has into the kiss…all her want…all her need…all her desire…all her love. The young man is momentarily overwhelmed at the sensation and the café owner uses it to her advantage. Acting quickly and moving with a grace and speed gained by years of training in her family's style of martial arts, she grabs her beloved's shoulders and quickly flips their positions so now it is she who is straddling Keitaro…their lips having never left each other's the entire time.

The elder Urashima rakes her hands up and down the younger man's bare chest, eliciting moans of pleasure from both of them. Keitaro is a bit scrawny with very little muscle mass on his body, but it's not the feel of his body that Haruka is moaning over, it's the idea of giving pleasure to the most important person in her whole world that is turning her on. The Tokyu U aspirant has always had a kind and forgiving heart, giving it out to anyone who would have it. True, Keitaro can be a bit too trusting and very non-judgmental to others, but it is that very naiveté that has given him a relatively good output on life despite the many curveballs that have been thrown his way recently. Haruka knows that he has never known any form of intimate touch from a woman, many not wanting to be with someone who is so kind and generous that can at times be appear to be a human doormat. 'I will make this night the best he has ever had,' she thinks while caressing his chest, 'and I hope there will be many others like this in the future.'

Keitaro's mind is currently in overload at the sensations he is feeling. He has never kissed a woman in his short life, let alone have a heavy make out session with one and what his body is experiencing is greater than anything he could ever have imagined. His eyes widen as the lovely woman on top of him licks his lips, a gesture he remembers reading about in various magazines that means she wants to initiate a more intimate kiss. Not wanting to do something stupid and spoil this great moment, Keitaro complies and opens his mouth, feeling his aunt's tongue quickly dart into his mouth and rub against his own tongue, finding her taste unique and quite intoxicating. Electricity courses through his entire body at the feeling of such a beautiful woman intimately kissing him.

'Oh Kami this feels great!' he thinks in ecstasy. His hands, which have remained idle at his sides, now yearn to touch the wondrous specimen atop of him. He reaches up and places them on Haruka's waist, getting a pleased 'hmm' in response. Feeling emboldened, the younger Urashima rubs up and down her sides between her nice hips and her ribs, loving the feel of her soft, smooth skin on his fingers.

As his enjoyment of the moment continues to increase, his mind wanders back a couple days ago to the wonderful 'dream' he had with the beautiful, mysterious woman kissing him. 'This feels just as good…no wait! This feels even better than that dream…but something doesn't seem right.' He frowns lightly as Haruka continues to ravage his mouth and rub his chest oh so amazingly well. 'After that dream…I remember waking up with a taste of cigarettes in my mouth…but I was so excited I kinda forgot about it.' His frown deepens. 'Haruka tastes exactly the same…which means…'

The slightly older Urashima lets out a grunt of disapproval as her beloved suddenly grabs her shoulders and pushes her up, effectively halting their heated make-out session. "What are you doing Keitaro?" she said in an almost whiny voice, one that the café owner mentally curses herself for letting out. She leans in to initiate another kiss but the Tokyo U aspirant manages to hold her at bay. "What's wrong?"

"I-I just remembered something," he slowly begins. "A couple of days ago…remember when I told you about that dream I had? The one about me waking up with a woman kissing me?" Haruka nods slightly, a small grin spreading across her face as she realizes he finally found out the truth. "It-it was you." He calmly states in wonder. "I…I can't believe it. I was dreaming about you and I didn't even know it."

The café owner and housemother of the Hinata House does another uncharacteristic move for her, and she has already done several this very night, and face faults onto the ground next to her ever so naïve beloved. After a moment she gets back up and looks down at the confused Keitaro with a light frown. "You're kidding right?" In response the young man tilts his head to the side in a look that Haruka finds irresistible. She leans down to capture his lips in a quick, yet tempting kiss. She backs off and caresses his cheek with the back of her hand. "You weren't dreaming…it was me." She chuckles as he gapes at her in surprise. "I-I've got a confession to make Kei," Haruka pauses to close her eyes and takes a deep breath before continuing, "for as long as I can remember…I…I've been in love with you."

Shock.

For several moments that is all Keitaro can feel. His mouth opens and closes his mouth in an effort to speak yet he can find no words to say at this startling revelation. "Love me?" he finally squeaks out in confusion. "As in…love me _love me_? How…why…when?" He looks up into her soft eyes, begging her for some sort of an answer.

Haruka sighs before lying down with her face against the crook of her beloved's neck, his warmth and comforting scent calming her down enough to let her heart's desire be known. "I don't know exactly when it started for sure…but I know that what I feel for you is real. Kei, I've always known that you were special. Every time I was near you when we were younger I felt…I felt wonderful and…complete."

"Ha-Haruka," the Tokyo U aspirant shakily begins, turning his head slightly to look at her, "if you've always felt this way why…why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Well," she hesitates, "at first I didn't know what I was feeling…I just knew I cared about you a lot. It took sometime for me to figure out how strongly I felt and when I did…I was afraid." She pauses for a moment to pull herself closer into Keitaro's warmth. "We're aunt and nephew Kei. I know I shouldn't be feeling what I am…but I just can't help it. I also know the kinds of things people would say and think about me if I were to let me feelings be known. You probably think I'm a strong and confidant woman and nothing fazes me but there's some shit that even I can't take and being scorned by other people like that is one of them."

"I-I never though about that," the younger Urashima mutters as negative thoughts begin to fill his head. Keitaro's always been the kind of person that doesn't really stand out in a crowd. He's never minded that and in fact embraced his conformity in society. The idea that he too could become an outcast and ostracized by a single decision terrifies him. Despite his newfound fears…his grip on Haruka never falters in the slightest.

The café owner gently caresses her beloved's face with her right hand and closes her eyes. "Another reason why I didn't tell you was…well the only thing that scared me more than what others would think about me…was if you'd accept me or reject me." She moves from her comfortable spot next to Keitaro and pushes herself up so she is hovering about the young man, her hands planted on each side of his head and her face just inches from his. The younger Urashima suddenly finds his breath caught in his throat at the tender, loving gaze is aunt is giving him. "I love you Keitaro Urashima," she begins in a strong, yet slightly husky voice, "and I have loved you for a long time. The only thing I've ever wanted is for you to return the love I have for you." She leans down and captures his lips with hers in a heated kiss that lasts several moments and leaves the young man gasping for air. "So how about it?" she says in a playful tone. "I know you reacted so far tonight like any red blooded male would…but are you willing to take this further? Do you wanna give this old gal a shot?"

Keitaro is momentarily surprised at her joke and scratches the back of his head with a nervous chuckle. "You know you're not old Haruka, not at all." He pauses and chews on his bottom lip for a moment whilst having a fierce internal debate against his rational mind and ever caring and loving heart. While he knew what was going on between them was morally wrong and he did now fear what kind of repercussions he could face…he also knew that the woman above him spoke from her heart and has been there for him on many occasions and loves him, pure and true love. It comes to no surprise at what his decision is. "H-Haruka," he finally stammers out, after debating for what felt like an eternity for the slightly older woman, "I know I'm not the smartest guy around…and I know that I don't feel for you the same way you feel for me," the Tokyo U aspirant watches as pain flashes through the lovely female's eyes before adding, "but I'd like to…I want to give …_us_ a try."

Before he can even let out a single smirk Haruka is all over him smothering his face with kisses while she feels hot tears sting her eyes…her entire body filled once again with pure elation. "Thank…you…Keitaro…I…promise…you…won't…regret…this!" she says in between kisses.

The woman's beloved grasps her shoulders and pushes her off him. "Whoa! Calm down! We've got…we've got a lot of time to work this out."

The café owner places her hands over his, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Oh I don't think so Kei," she starts in a deep, husky tone, "I've waited a long time for this and I'll be damned if I have to keep being so friggin' patient." She slides down to her soon to be man's feet, pushes herself up to her knees, giving Keitaro another wonderful view by the way, grabs the waistband of his pajama bottoms and boxers and pulls them all the way down to his feet. As he squeaks out in shock she slides them off his feet and tosses them aside, now allowing herself to enjoy the view.

The young man's face reddens several shades. "H-H-H-Haruka!" he sputters.

The aforementioned Urashima hops back up so she is straddling Keitaro. "I just told you Kei that I'm tired of all this waiting shit. I want you…and judging by what's poking me right now you sure as hell want me too." She smirks deviously as her beloved's flush deepens even more. Haruka leans forward until her face is dangerously close to his. "Tonight…you're mine!"

**To be concluded…**

* * *

**Author's notes**: Hello all of you loyal fans! Though that this fic was dead? That I turned my back on it? Shame on you. You should know that I never abandon my works though a few of them are on hold for the time being until I can get a good grasp on what direction I want the fics to go. I've had a good portion of this chapter done for a while…I just had a hard time figuring out what all I wanted the characters to say…well what I wanted Keitaro and Haruka to say. I still might make some changes if I feel something isn't quite right…I'm too much of a perfectionist for my own good.

I'm sure some of you have noticed that instead of my usual 'To be continued…' line I've used 'To be concluded…' and I'm glad you have. I've been mapping out the next chapter that will be the final, concluding chapter for this strange, yet even more strangely loved fic of mine. I know some of you will be a little disappointed that I'm ending it…but look at it this way. Now I have one less fic to worry about so I can focus a little bit more on my other works. Hold tight and I will go back to my stories. I might have the concluding chapter for this fic up sooner than expected since I have what I want to place in it worked out. Until then! – _lighthawkdemon_

Questions or comments? E-mail me at: **lighthawkdemon**(at)**Y!**


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